Amble down YouTube’s rabbit hole of late 90s NBA footage and you’re sure to stumble across a fun surprise or two. It’s as much about re-discovering those players you once had an irrational fandom for (shoutout to Antonio Daniels) and seeing all the future coaches still in Spurs jerseys as it is about appreciating the opulent harmonies of John Tesh’s Roundball Rock, the familiar timbre of Bob Costas’ voice and, if you keep auto-playing long enough, the occasional Russian broadcaster intermittently clearing his throat directly into his mic.
And then you find, amid the grainy nostalgia, a young Tim Duncan, looking like someone in a faded photo you think know—only the clothes and people around them are too outdated, the court too bedecked with pink, orange and teal, for it to actually be them.