By dint of surveying all the territories of basketball first, it seemed normal for Tony Parker to set the first French milestone in the pantheon. The former tricolor basketball player will be officially inducted, Saturday August 12 (on the night of Saturday to Sunday in France), at the Hall of Fame in Springfield (Massachusetts). An honor so far reserved only for 197 former players of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Former leader of the San Antonio Spurs (from 2001 to 2018) and the Charlotte Hornets (2018-2019), Parker lived his adventure across the Atlantic in the shoes of a pioneer. The North American basketball championship was at that time the preserve of local players, and the future emblematic Spurs number 9 was only the second Frenchman to join it – after Tariq Abdul-Wahad in 1997.
Since then, things have changed. MVP titles (“most valuable player”, or best player) of the Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo (in 2019 and in 2020) and the Serbian Nikola Jokic (2021 and 2022) illustrate the gradual arrival of players from the Old Continent among the best in the NBA. Tony Parker launched this movement alongside Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki – sixth best scorer in NBA history, crowned in 2011 with the Dallas Mavericks – and Spaniard Pau Gasol, two-time champion with Los Angeles. Angeles Lakers in 2009 and 2010. They will both be inducted into the Hall of Fame overnight from Saturday to Sunday, alongside the French leader.
“Even in my wildest dreams, I could never have imagined entering the Hall of Fame”, said Tony Parker, in an interview with the press, a few days before the ceremony. ” It has always been my motivation to show Americans that in France, we know how to play basketball. It’s just crazy, I find it hard to realize. » During his career, “TP” notably compiled four NBA titles (2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014) and six All Star Game selections. His two main partners at the time in San Antonio, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan, introduced him to Springfield in this “basketball museum”.
His jersey has already been removed
The ceremony will definitely have the air of a Spurs anniversary meeting, since the legendary coach of the Texas franchise, Gregg Popovich (from 1996 to today) will also enter the Hall of Fame on this occasion. Just like Becky Hammon, former WNBA player and Popovich’s assistant in San Antonio from 2014 to 2021.
“Coming home at the same time as Pop and Becky, who is like my big sister, it’s incredible”rejoiced Parker. “So when you add Dirk, Pau and even Wade [l’ancien joueur de Miami est le dernier honoré de cette cérémonie], against whom I played in the NBA Finals, it’s fun to enter the Hall of Fame only with people I know. »
This is not the first honor that Tony Parker has received since his retirement from the basketball courts in 2019. The one who is now president of the French club Asvel had already seen his jersey with the number 9 removed and raised to the ceiling of the AT&T Center in San Antonio in 2019. But the Hall of Fame, it’s a “notch above, you enter another galaxy”, explained Parker.