In seventeen seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker compiled six All-Star appearances, four championships and an NBA Finals MVP. The soon-to-be Hall of Famer is sure to be at or near the top of any “all-time Spurs” list, and a year ago, it would be hard to imagine him as anything but a Spur for life.
And then, in July of 2018, he wasn’t. Just over a year after suffering a devastating quad injury, Parker signed a free agent contract with the Charlotte Hornets in a stunning twist of fate. As he prepares to face his old team for the first time Monday night, Parker acknowledged in an ESPN feature that there were some hurt feelings around his exit from San Antonio.
“I worked so hard to come back that it hurt me a little bit to not be able to show the Spurs I can still play,” Parker said.
The injury proved to be the beginning of the end for Parker’s tenure with the Spurs. In Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Rockets, Parker attempted a floater over Patrick Beverley, then crumpled to the ground. Test results would show that Parker had suffered a ruptured left quadriceps tendon.
The Spurs’ training staff put together a lengthy and comprehensive recovery program, one that would last 10 to 11 months and even involved several hours a day of hiking. But as the team struggled in 2017-18, that recovery window shrunk considerably. On November 27, just under seven months after suffering the injury, Parker was back on the floor.
The results weren’t pretty, and he knew it. Two months later, Dejounte Murray became the starting point guard.
“I knew if I wanted to come back at the same level, I had to be patient and be out 10 or 11 months,” Parker said. “But I wasn’t ready to do that. That’s why I rushed it. I’m not going to say it didn’t hurt. Last year, I tried to come back fast, tried to do it for the Spurs and sacrificed my body to come back. Maybe now, I should have waited.”
One of the reasons Parker felt the need to rush back was the absence of another Spurs star, Kawhi Leonard. The circumstances surrounding Leonard’s injury have been the subject of intense speculation, but Parker made news for a single sound bite, in which he said his own injury was “100 times worse” than Leonard’s.
Leonard would end up requesting a trade from San Antonio. And while the two never had a chance to hash out their differences in private, Parker found it “unbelievable” that some considered him — and his statement — as part of the reason Kawhi moved on to Toronto.
“If people think that, then they’re really wrong,” Parker said. “Because I’m definitely not the reason. I was saying that in a positive way. The sad thing is everybody ran with this and put me as the bad guy, and I had no problem playing with Kawhi.
“It was sad people tried to put me against Kawhi. It never happened like that.”
Despite all the drama, Parker had every intention of remaining in San Antonio. But in a meeting with coach Gregg Popovich, he learned that his role would be heavily reduced.
“Pop just told me that I was going to be the third point guard, and I had to think really hard about if I was going to stay,” Parker said. “So then I told him I’m not gonna stay. I think they really didn’t believe I was gonna leave anyway. I think they thought I’d be like Manu [Ginobili] and just stay.”
Parker ended up joining good friend (and fellow Frenchman) Nicolas Batum in Charlotte. Everyone was shocked that Parker wanted to leave — even newly-minted Hornets coach James Borrego, who was an assistant in San Antonio.
But despite the tricky circumstances that led to Parker’s exit, he maintains that there will be no bad blood going forward.
“I’m not the type of guy who regrets. I will always love the Spurs. I have no grudges.”