Tim Duncan is still receiving votes as the NBA's best leader despite his retirement

So long as you were paying any attention to the NBA this season, you probably know that Tim Duncan called it a career.

The San Antonio Spurs big man retired to little fanfare and ceremony after a 19-year NBA career during which he set the standard for leadership. Apparently, that reputation will continue into the post-Duncan era. On Tuesday, the NBA released its annual survey of the league's general managers, in which the GMs were asked for their opinions on topics such as who's the league's best player, which rookie will win rookie of the year, and many others.

Among those questions was a rather simple query: "Which player is the best leader?" One name ran away with first place, but that's not why we're here. We're here to note that Duncan still received votes in that category:

As far as I can tell, there are four possible explanations for this:

- Some GM (or GMs) decided to give Duncan an honorary vote, just for good measure.

- Some GM (or GMs) forgot that Duncan retired this summer.

- Some GM (or GMs) filed their votes before Duncan made his retirement official. This is perhaps the likeliest explanation.

- Some GM (or GMs) refused to believe that Duncan is really gone.

If it's the third, can we blame Spurs GM R.C. Buford? GMs weren't allowed to vote for their own players in the survey, but technically, Duncan is no longer a Spur, which would mean Buford's in the clear. I'm just saying.

Of course, if Duncan's going to keep showing up to Spurs practice, then maybe he deserves those votes after all:

Tim Duncan: Five-time champion. All-time great. Future Hall of Famer. And man who doesn't know what it means to be retired.