The former leader of the San Antonio Spurs and the France team, four-time NBA champion with the Texas team, will be inducted into the pantheon of players in the North American league next summer.
Even in retirement, Tony Parker writes history. Tipped for a few months to join the Hall of Fame, the NBA basketball pantheon, the current president of Asvel will be entitled to honors from the world of the orange ball, the body announced on Saturday April 1. This is the first time that a French player has been distinguished in this way to join a circle of 220 players, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson…
Tony Parker becomes the first French basketball player in history to join the NBA Hall Of Fame 🤩
The induction ceremony is scheduled for August 12, congratulations TP 🙌#TeamFranceBasket | #PassionatelyBlue pic.twitter.com/lqbyKMLrnE
– French basketball teams (@FRABasketball) April 1, 2023
“It’s a little crazy”agreed the Frenchman, smiling like a kid, on ESPN’s microphone. First European player elected MVP (best player) of a final in 2007 against the Cleveland Cavaliers of a certain LeBron James, four times NBA champion with San Antonio, six times All-Star, to name only these performances, Tony Parker has built a concrete track record during his 18 seasons in the NBA between 2001 and 2019. Add to that his career with the Blues, marked by a title at the Eurobasket 2013 and several international medals, and you get a perfect CV to be honored in Springfield, location of the Hall of Fame.
“I often tell the kids at my academy to always dream big.explained Tony Parker on Saturday. When you tell someone your dream and they don’t laugh at you, you’re not dreaming big enough. When I told my dream, they all laughed at me. I was told: ‘you are too small, you are too thin. You’ll never get to play in the NBA.’ And now I’m laughing because I’m going to enter the Hall of Fame”.
Inducted with two other Europeans, and his coach Gregg Popovich
To make the story even more beautiful, he will be inducted alongside his coach for more than 15 years in San Antonio, Gregg Popovich, and the two men will thus join Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, the two other members of the historic Texan trio. already present. “I attended the inductions of Tim, then Manu, and being here this year with Pop… It’s really cool to grow up with your coach. He was very hard on me. He knew I wanted to be one of the best and he pushed me all these years. But now when I look back, I’m really grateful to have had him as a coach.”said “TP”.
Becky Hammon, former assistant coach of the franchise, will also be at the ceremony, both for her career as a coach in men’s basketball and for her career as a player. In addition to these outstanding figures of Texan basketball, the best enemy of “TP” on the international scene, the Spaniard Pau Gasol, was also acclaimed to enter the Hall of Fame, just like another European legend, the German Dirk Nowitzki . Dwyane Wade, former rear of the Miami Heat in particular, also completes the list of a vintage which will be honored on August 12. “Here we are all together in the Hall of Fame. It’s incredible”concluded Parker.