Parker on reported contract offer: ‘I wish’
During a wide-ranging discussion on the radio Thursday, Milwaukee Bucks forward Jabari Parker gave candid remarks regarding his pending restricted free agency, a subject that he has said multiple times this season has been a difficult situation.
Parker appeared on the “Milwaukee
Basketball Hour” with hosts Steve “Sparky” Fifer, Bill Michaels and Steve Novak.
The show has been on weekly during the season on AM-1250/FM-105.7.
In October, Parker and the Bucks could not come to an agreement on a contract extension, making him a restricted free agent this summer. With that designation, the Bucks have the ability to continue negotiating with Parker while also holding the right to match any offered extended to him by another team.
Below are excerpts from the radio show in which Parker shared his perspective on the situation and tried to clear things up publicly.
Michaels: “In your mind, are you still a Milwaukee Buck that is going to bring with Giannis (Antetokounmpo) a championship back to this city?”
Parker: “I hope so. I always had aspirations. I’m pretty comfortable here, but at the end of the day it wasn’t in my control and that’s the unfortunate part.”
Fifer: “How do you look at it from a player perspective, Jabari, now that you’re coming up on this situation and it’s kind of played out already?”
Parker: “The team has to be professional about it, right? They have to understand their strengths and weaknesses. As
far as Milwaukee goes, it’s not like a huge target for free agents and I was willing to take that into consideration because it’s home to me, I turned it into home. When it comes to a player like myself, I wasn’t desiring the max (contract). I just wanted security, that’s all I wanted. But then I get an offer that was not what I wanted, it was not fair.”
Fifer: “ESPN reported months back that they offered you three (years) and $54 (million), which is like $18 million a year.”
Parker: know.”
Michaels: “Doing this tonight, does this help alleviate things, just PR-wise for you? Because you probably take some grief from people that say, ‘How do you turn that down?’ ”
Parker: “This is a more personable interview. I’m not a social media guy. I don’t tweet, I don’t bash people on Twitter, I’m not bitter when it comes to that. I’m old school. This is like a personal conversation I’m having and I’m being legit. It’s easy for me to talk that way.”
The full conversation, which can be found at www.1057fmthefan.com, also included other interesting parts including Parker discusses the team’s changes from the time he was drafted, including his injuries and Antetokounmpo’s meteoric rise, his relationship with the Greek Freak
“Shoot, I wish .
... Now you and how the team handled their loss in the regular-season finale.
Fifer: “When you came in it was going to be you and Giannis, that’s what it was going to be. And to be honest with you, when you came in you were farther along than him, for sure offensively, and were going to be in that position to be the leading scorer on this team. But because of the unfortunate situation (Parker’s injuries) and (Antetokounmpo’s) unbelievable growth he has become the guy on this team, obviously, and one of the top superstars in the league. Does that ever kind of cross, go through your mind as far as how you envisioned this playing out going forward?”
Parker: “As far that, it’s just a situation that put me behind. They had their guys they were rolling with and I was behind. You have to move on at the end of the day and you have to go with guys. That’s just experience that I lack. As far as ability goes, like, I’m the best that’s out there. That’s just how it is. That’s my ego.”
Novak: “Speak a little bit to what is your relationship like with Giannis.”
Parker: “My relationships with all my teammates are very good. We all spend the same amount of time together. Me and Giannis, we have a relationship where we, after my second year, we stayed the whole summer and worked out in Milwaukee. We have a relationship when it comes to that.”
Michaels: “Was it like an ugly plane ride home last (Wednesday) night?”
Parker: “Honestly, I hope my teammates don’t get mad at me but after we lost we was cracking jokes, we was having a good time because we just put together something that was special. We just finished, everybody made it to the finish mark and we were just happy from that point. Then it made us a little more happy when we were watching the other games seeing how other teams were playing. Seven is not the worst to be in, but we’re not overlooking our opponent.”