Tim Duncan will appear alongside The Punisher in a new comic

Throughout his career, San Antonio Spurs big man Tim Duncan has been seen as the superstar who isn't very interested in being a media fixture, preferring to excel on the court and to appear in the occasional local ad. Many have praised Duncan's supposedly all-business approach, while others have criticized him (and the Spurs as a whole) for having little interest in promoting a league that has allowed him to earn more than $220 million over his 17-year career. Yet both sides seem to agree that Duncan would rather keep out of the limelight, perhaps so he can stay at home and paint Warhammer 40K figurines.

But Duncan does have his passions, and sometimes he allows them to enter the public eye. Soon, the Big Fundamental will combine two of his biggest loves — comic books and customized cars. In a post to the Facebook page of BlackJack Speed Shop, the customization shop Duncan owns in San Antonio, it was revealed that the future Hall of Famer would appear in an upcoming comic with "The Punisher," the 40-year-old Marvel Comics character. Take a look at the announcement and the accompanying photo (via PBT):

As you can see, Duncan is presented as a mechanic who happens to own a gigantic NBA championship ring, which probably isn't the best thing to wear when customizing a car for a gun-wielding vigilante who sees the world as meaningless and has few compulsions about solving problems with violence. You never know what could scuff a fresh paint job.

Duncan has made his Punisher fandom known before, most obviously via the brace he has worn on his left knee in warmups for several years (his in-game brace is just black). There's clearly an affinity here.

Enough of one, in fact, to compel Duncan to broadcast his fandom in a public way on several occasions. He's clearly not ashamed of it and/or unwilling to let people know that he has interest in this particular subject. On certain occasions, he's not the sort of person that keeps to himself and fails to take advantage of the opportunities his fame offers. It's just a matter of lining up the right publicity moves.

In 1997, when Duncan first entered the NBA, there wasn't much there for him besides awkward, background-occupying soda commercials and spots in which David Robinson taught him how to act like a total dad. If Duncan entered the NBA now, it's not crazy to think that he would thrive in a culture full of superhero movies, and one that allows famous people to discuss their comic book collections without major repercussions. Maybe Duncan would genuinely want to talk about these things as often as possible.

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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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