Ex-teammate: Tim Duncan declined President Obama's invitation to Rio Olympics

Leave it to Tim Duncan — one of the most reserved and soft-spoken superstars in NBA history — to turn down a personal invitation from the President of the United States to fly down to the Rio Olympics.

Seriously.

According to Duncan's ex-San Antonio Spurs teammate Bruce Bowen, the recently retired future Hall of Famer was offered the aforementioned once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from President Obama. He declined.

According to a person with knowledge of Duncan's schedule, the NBA star had just returned from two weeks of traveling out of the country when the invitation came. He decided the turnaround to go to Brazil would be too short, and he wanted to spend time with his family. He expressed his thanks to the White House and said he was honored for the invitation. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the subject.

"Tim, his legacy is always going to be more of the foundation guy in San Antonio and a guy that wasn't ever concerned with the limelight, but more importantly concerned with others, making sure that they could really reach the most out of their potential." Bowen recently told Sports Illustrated.

"It's not often you find individuals like that. And it's funny that he was offered an opportunity to fly (to Rio) with the President of the United States, and he discussed it with me and I'm like, 'You're going, right?' He was like, 'You know I'm not about that stuff.' Even that moment where you'd say, 'I sure would like to be a part of that,' it doesn't happen with Tim because he's not concerned with that stuff."

Despite what Bowen said, Obama, though, did not attend the Olympics. He sent an official delegation, led by Secretary of State John Kerry for the opening ceremony. Another delegation will attend the closing ceremony.

You can't make this stuff up, folks. Only Tim Duncan.

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