As if he didn’t already have enough accodales over an NBA career spanning 15 years, Manu Ginóbili just added another notch to his basketball belt on Thursday. By stepping onto the court in the Spurs’ 105-94 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, Manu became the first Latino to ever play in 200 NBA playoff games.
With this milestone, he secures a spot in the top 10 for most playoff games played, along with his Spurs teammates of the present and past, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, and Cleveland Cavaliers supernova LeBron James.
Manu’s playoff journey started in his first season with the Spurs, when they won their second title (out of an eventual five, four of them with the Argentine on the squad). Since then, he’s appeared in a total of five NBA Finals, the most by a Latino player. Due to being drafted in the second round back in 1999, Manu is also the first player with that distinction to crack 200 playoff games played; the previous owner of the latest draft slot with over 200 playoff appearances was Parker, who was drafted with the 28th pick in the 2001 NBA Draft.
Next up on the list of players Manu can realistically pass in playoff appearances is Scottie Pippen, who sits at 208; LeBron is just two games ahead of Manu, but it’s safe to say that he’ll stay ahead, given the ease with which the Cavaliers should make the NBA Finals this year.
If the Spurs win a tough, seven-game series against the Grizzlies, the crafty lefty could hop Pippen in the second round of this year’s playoffs, which would allow him to set his sights on a duo of Lakers legends: Shaq (216 playoff games played) and Kobe (220).