SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- Sometimes the effort to avoid attention is exactly what draws it. Tim Duncan and his decision not to play against the Virgin Islands is the latest example.

Duncan let the coaching staff know less than 90 minutes before Team USA throttled his homeland 113-55 in the Americas Olympic qualifying tournament on Saturday that he would not play unless injury required him to. He still wore his uniform and warmed up as usual, leaving his teammates unaware until just before tip-off. The lone telltale sign was that he had not had his ankles taped.

All of which, combined with the lack of intrigue in the rout, turned a rather understandable decision into the most curious event of the night and, arguably, of the tournament so far for Team USA.

"Tim and I were in the back of the locker room about eight minutes before the game when I said I'd heard a rumor he wasn't playing," said Elton Brand, who started in his place. "He said, 'Yeah, so do your thing.' I thought he was joking because I had been joking."

Duncan declined postgame interview requests but provided a statement that an NBA official scribbled on a piece of note paper and read to anyone interested.

"It was a personal decision of course," the statement read. "I did speak with the coaches and some of my Virgin Islands friends and came to the decision that it was the best gesture to make, the right thing to do and that it felt right in this situation."

Duncan first indicated he was uncomfortable with the idea of playing against his fellow islanders during Team USA's preparatory training in New York but never intimated he wouldn't play.

"No one had any idea," Brand said. "Tim communicates but, well, we won by 40 so I can understand his situation. If it was a closer game and he didn't play, then I might have a harder time understanding it."

Spurs coach and Team USA assistant Gregg Popovich was the first to learn of Duncan's decision about 75 minutes before the later-afternoon tipoff. He had joked with Popovich and Spurs and Team USA athletic trainer Will Sevening that if he didn't play, they couldn't participate, either.

"He said we had to stick together," Popovich added. "Until you get to know Timmy, it's hard to know when he's joking and when he's not. In typical Tim fashion, he didn't make the decision until he had to make it. But he made the absolute right decision. I don't see what the big deal is."

Keep in mind, Popovich is as loathe to share himself with the public as Duncan is, which is one reason they've developed a father-son bond. The reality is it wouldn't have been a deal at all if not for the last-minute decision. Was it that difficult to make? Was it fair not to tell the team or his teammates sooner? What ultimately swayed him? How was it to sit and watch his teammates, conversely, mercilessly demolish his fellow islanders? And would he have made the same decision had the game held more importance or the outcome been harder to predict?

"I'm not quite sure what he would've done if the situation were different," said starting center Jermaine O'Neal, "but from what I know of him I believe he may have made the same decision."

Had Duncan played, neither the Virgin Islands team nor its fans would've held it against him.

"I've known him since he was a kid," said Alicia Hansen, a former Virgin Islands senator and part of the team's traveling party. "We'd all liked to have seen him perform. We would've seen it as a strong challenge."

That Duncan ultimately decided not to play, and that he was torn enough to wait until he was at the arena to tell anyone, may not shed a whole lot of light on who or how he is, but it certainly is motivation to find out. Which, I'm guessing, isn't what he had in mind.

Ric Bucher covers the NBA for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ric.bucher@espnmag.com.