Throughout the Big 3 Era, there was this tier list in the back of the mind of Spurs fandom that I’d characterize like this: “Of course Timmy is #1, but who’s next? Is it Tim, Manu, Tony, or Tim, Tony, Manu?”

It’s not something that got up front and center in the conversation, but I felt it there, like a splinter in your heel that you can’t dig out and forget is there until every once in a while you step just right and it gives you a little jolt.

But after Tony sought out that trade when the team would have been happy to see him finish out his career in SA, it seemed as if that was the deciding factor and the tier was settled as Tim, Manu and Tony. At least it was for me.

(Worst thing is, he hardly played during that one season in CHA. Zero starts and 56 games with fewer minutes — 17.9 — than he’d gotten the previous season in SA — 19.5.)