Tim Duncan donates $247,000 to cancer research project

Tim Duncan continues to add to his legendary legacy, and it has nothing to do with basketball.

The future Hall of Famer donated $247,000 to the SA 1000 Cancer Genome Project, an open project whose goal is to collect and conduct genome-sequencing on cancerous and non-cancerous tissue from 1,000 San Antonio cancer patients.

What makes it unique - and what drew Duncan to the project - is its open concept, as the research and results will be available to researchers around the world.

“The idea that a group of cancer researchers were willing to set aside egos, to make the information freely available and work strictly for the greater good of curing cancer was exactly the type of cancer project I was willing to support,” Duncan said in a press release.

Duncan's donation boosts the project's money raised to $1.8 million. Approximately $3 million is needed to complete the project.

"This ambitious project will do what almost no one else can do, and Tim Duncan’s donation will help us continue to move the project forward and inspire other donors to join us,” said project founder Dr. Anthony Tolcher.

Duncan lost both his parents to cancer.