On the heels of his retirement last week, Spurs star forward Tim Duncan was pictured on San Antonio real estate agent Robert Elder’s professional Facebook page holding a sign featuring the agent’s logo and web address.

There was a problem, though. Duncan never agreed to be photographed holding the sign or to endorse Elder, an agent at Keller Williams in San Antonio.

Duncan now is suing Elder, Keller Williams and some other parties alleging misappropriation of the retired basketball player’s name and image. The suit, filed in Bexar County District Court on Friday, seeks unspecified financial and punitive damages.

“It was just so blatant and so shameless,” said Michael D. Bernard, a lawyer for Duncan and former San Antonio city attorney. “We don’t want people to think this is OK or that it goes unnoticed, because it doesn’t. There is a consequence to it.”

Elder referred questions to Jack Hawthorne, general counsel for Keller Williams in San Antonio. Hawthorne declined to comment, saying he had not seen the lawsuit.

Duncan’s picture, which the suit says was posted on Elder’s professional Facebook page at 11:21 a.m. Wednesday, has since been removed. That apparently happened after Duncan’s representatives asked to take it down, Bernard said.

It might not have been the first time Elder has used the images of famous individuals to promote his real estate group. His real estate group’s Facebook page shows pictures of what appear to be actors Eva Longoria, Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson each holding a sign with the agent’s logo and phone number.

“You’re getting to a reason why we filed the lawsuit,” Bernard said. “There are calculated efforts to maximize someone’s exposure. (The defendants) undoubtedly took licensed photographs and altered them in an attempt to show an endorsement.”

Duncan’s photograph was clearly timed to take advantage of the attention Duncan was receiving following his retirement after 19 years with the Spurs, he said.

Elder’s professional Facebook page has more than 4,100 followers.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants altered an image of Duncan taken by San Antonio photographer Sarah Brooke Lyons for her “1005 Faces” project, which featured subjects in black-and-white photographs holding placards with a short personal message.

Duncan’s handwritten message was “Good, Better, Best. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is your best!”

On July 11, the day of Duncan’s retirement, Lyons posted that photograph on her Facebook page with the caption “The Best.” Lyons could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

According to the lawsuit, the altered photograph on Elder’s Facebook page contained the caption, “Wow! Just WOW! TD took the time to give us some love! Thanks Tim! We love you too man!”

Bernard, a partner at the law firm Bracewell in San Antonio, found that objectionable, as well. He said it gave the faux endorsement “sort of an air of intimacy.”

pdanner@express-news.net

Twitter: @AlamoPD