David Robinson's time is now as Spurs' center proves worth the wait (SN Archive — 1990)

David Robinson's time is now as Spurs' center proves worth the wait (SN Archive — 1990) originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . Victor Wembanyama's superstar ascent follows a similar arc of Spurs legends David Robinson and Tim Duncan, both of whom were also named SN NBA Players of the Year.

This article, ' Well Worth The Wait ' by Paul Attner originally appeared as the cover story in the April 23, 1990 issue of The Sporting News. For someone who grew up playing a number of sports but never was the best at any of them, David Robinson is having a ball as an adult. He is the National Basketball Association's best rookie, the San Antonio Spurs ' best player and, most surprising of all to him, one of the three best centers in the league.

And that's not even counting how well he is being paid — $26 million over eight years — or the fact he is the star of stars in his newly adopted Texas home or that, as his first regular season as a pro draws to an end, he has convinced himself he eventually could be the NBA's Most Valuable Player. That's pretty heady stuff for a guy who once envisioned a life as a scientist or engineer, not as a doctor of dunks and defense, who grew up not particularly liking basketball and who chose a future as a Naval officer with the knowledge of how ludicrous any dreams of him making a living from sports would be. SN ARCHIVES: Access every SN issue since 1886, for free Still, there are doubters.

The latest are some of his teammates. They've been debating all season with him about bowling, of all things. Robinson fancies himself as a pretty nifty man on the lanes, but the Spurs just can't imagine anyone that tall being able to throw strikes.