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For quite a few years, the San Antonio Spurs were the most dominant and unforgiving team in the entire NBA.

From 1999 to 2014, the Spurs won five NBA Finals and made the playoffs every single year.

There were many great talents contributing to their power but one of them was an unlikely and undeniable superstar out of Argentina.

Manu Ginobili is celebrating his 45th birthday and the entire NBA is saluting him.

“Join us in wishing a Happy 45th Birthday to 2x NBA All-Star, 4x NBA Champion, 2007-08 Sixth Man of the Year and Hoop Hall inductee, Manu Ginobili!”

Any day to celebrate Ginobili is a good day indeed because he’s a great, one-of-a-kind player.

Spurs Sixth Man

Ginobili entered the league back in 2002 and only played for the Spurs for his entire career.

All in all, he played for 16 years and achieved an average of 13.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists.

He was named an All-Star two times and All-NBA twice too.

He also landed the 2007-08 Sixth Man of the Year Award, a huge feat that really summarized his abilities.

There were only a few seasons when Ginobili started most of the games with his team.

In fact, there was only one when he started in every game he played (it happened to be a season he was named an All-Star).

Instead, Ginobili was known as the best bench player in the league and would assist his team in some huge ways when they needed him most.

Almost any other team in the league would have been happy to have Ginobili lead their squad but he was loyal and stuck with the Spurs and continued to help them win.

He will forever be a fan favorite and an important part of Spurs history.

This article first appeared on The Cold Wire and was syndicated with permission.

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