Hall of Famer Parker was ahead of his time
Durant speaks his mind on topics Beasley trying to work his way back
The road for Tony Parker to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame was a humble one. NBA teams were wary of European players two decades ago and Parker was the first Frenchman to break the league’s barrier as a late first-round pick in 2001.
Parker was 19 years old and unheralded. He freely acknowledges teammate Tim Duncan didn’t speak to him until late in his rookie season after the Spurs defeated the Supersonics in a first-round playoff series.
Parker bested brash rival Gary Payton in that series, proving he had the potential to be a franchise cornerstone, and the crafty, fiery guard led the Spurs to four NBA championships and was the MVP of the 2007 NBA Finals.
This year’s Hall of Fame class is defined by international stars — Parker, Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki and Spain’s
Pau Gasol — players who made an indelible impact on the NBA, proving to general managers that players not from the United States, who never played in college, and who were from countries that may have lacked strong basketball traditions could become cornerstones.
“It’s hard to realize, to be honest,” Parker said. “I never even thought in my wildest dream that I would make the Hall of Fame. I don’t think it’s something you dream about, coming from France and to put it in perspective, there were no European point guards in the NBA. I was just dreaming about playing in the NBA and having a role.
“To win championships, having your jersey retired and now the Hall of Fame is almost surreal.”
Parker wasn’t the most athletic point guard, or the biggest, but he did everything well. He was a plus distributor, a good mid-range shooter, and had enough moves to get to the rim and score with either hand. In an era in which point guards were like fullbacks or freakishly athletic, Parker pushed the Spurs to greatness with his savvy, as well as his skill set.
Parker’s father, Tony Sr., is a Chicago native who played at Loyola-Chicago and then overseas. So Parker was raised as a Bulls fan in the late 1980s and early 1990 and, of course, idolized Michael Jordan. It was that love for the NBA that encouraged Parker to play basketball with a goal of playing in America.
“I was very blessed and lucky to have a dad that was a basketball player who could teach me the mental side of the game because to me that was the difference,” Parker said. “I always told myself maybe you have players that are faster, maybe you have players that are stronger, maybe you have players that are more talented but there is something they are not going to beat me in and that’s the mental side to perform at the right moment in front of 20,000 people and to play under pressure. That’s what my dad taught me the most.”
Parker was a six-time All-Star, and 19th all-time in assists, all accomplished in a Spurs system that relied on ball movement and unselfishness.
There were not going to be stars in coach Gregg Popovich’s system unless it was coupled with team success.
“I felt comfortable from the beginning because the way Pop was running his offense was very similar to Europe,” Parker said. “The way that he was screaming, even if it was hard, that’s the way I was raised. In Europe you always have coaches screaming and yelling like crazy, that’s why I felt very comfortable at first.”
In addition to Payton, Parker clashed with Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Stephon Marbury, Deron Williams, Chauncey Billups, and emerging stars such as Chris Paul and
Russell Westbrook. It was a remarkable era for NBA point guards, but Parker emerged because of his ability to flourish within the Spurs system and he was surrounded by Hall of Fame teammates Duncan and Manu Ginobili.
“It was almost the golden era for point guards,” he said. “Every night at the point guard position, it was a hell of a matchup but it made me the player that I am. That’s why I wanted to play in the NBA. I wanted to play in the best league against the best players and it was a great challenge to compete against all those guys and I’m very proud that I played in a great era of point guards.”
Before Parker, NBA teams generally did not hand the keys to their franchise to foreign-born point guards. It’s the most crucial position on the floor and Parker emerged to stardom. He was motivated by doubters who questioned his talent and ability to be a franchise leader.
“I wanted to show Americans that French people can play in the NBA,” he said. “That was my motivation. So when Pop turned to me and threw me in the fire and I became the youngest point guard to be a starter in the NBA, that was the beginning and I never looked back.
“When I first arrived, that’s the first thing I wanted to show, to earn the respect and the physicality that you need to play in the NBA and it was something I welcomed and I wanted to show I was ready for that.”
Parker said he was challenged early, when wily veteran Kevin Willis kept fouling the 19-year-old rookie hard each time he went into the paint. They got into an altercation and afterward, Parker apologized to Popovich. That was not necessary.
“He looks at me and says, ‘aww, I love it, love it,’ ” Parker said. “I was not going to back down. My favorite thing when I look back and the last few weeks I’ve been very nostalgic is the way both [Duncan and Ginobili] were so unselfish and the culture that we put in place is that the most important thing is the team and we want to win championships and all of three of us, we took less money in our career to make sure we find players to play with us and play our whole career with the Spurs. I’m very blessed and lucky to share the same values with guys that we want to win.”
Kevin Durant has hopes of leading the Suns to the NBA championship with a retooled roster, including the addition of former All-Star Bradley Beal. But Durant is more than a basketball star. He’s an astute business man and picks and chooses his moments on offering his thoughts on off-court and league issues.
He discussed various topics with CNBC’s Boardroom Game Plan Summit, including his investment in a pickleball league. Pickleball has become a popular sport, most notably in the NBA bubble when game officials, led by Scott Foster, played heated games during their off time.
“Like somebody said earlier, you look at pickleball, you don’t really think it’s anything until you go into court and you see everybody having a great time and so many people from all ages can play forever,” Durant said. “You see where it’s going now. ”
Durant is one of the few NBA players to agree to a lifetime sneaker deal, signing with Nike in April.
“The beauty of it now, by having a lifetime deal, is that you really can create from ground zero, you know, we can really create from the sole of the shoe and build up from there and tell the stories that we want to tell with the biggest brand in the world. It was a goal of mine to get this done,” Durant said. “So to see it come to life and to actually be a real thing, it was special. So it’s a lot of potential here with my shoes because I’ve been around so long, so we keep building that.”
Durant is one of two active NBA players — along with NBA champion Jeff Green — to have played for the Seattle SuperSonics. Durant played one year before the Sonics were purchased by a group led by Oklahoma City businessman Clayton Bennett, who reached a settlement with the city of Seattle to relocate the team to Oklahoma. Privately, the NBA regretted leaving Seattle but the city offered few alternatives to the league’s desire for a new arena and appeared indifferent about the Sonics’ future.
That is no longer the case. Seattle has grown exponentially in the past 15 years, including Climate Pledge Arena, a state-of-the-art venue that if suggested 15 years ago would have likely kept the Sonics in Seattle. Now the arena hosts the NHL’s Kraken.
Commissioner Adam Silver said the league would take expansion seriously once the new collective bargaining agreement was agreed upon. That has happened, and Seattle and Las Vegas are considered favorites to land new teams.
With two teams on the western side of the United States being added, Memphis and New Orleans likely would be added to the Eastern Conference in a potential realignment.
Durant said he enjoyed his lone season in Seattle and received a hearty ovation when he returned with the Warriors to the city for a preseason game in 2018. Durant has pushed for an NBA return to Seattle.
“The NBA is so huge but I don’t know if all the other owners will want to split that up, amongst new teams, you know, things are going so well. I feel like it could be four or five new teams,” he said. “Everybody loves basketball. And what these franchises do to a city, I was a part of an expansion-like franchise in OKC and to see where their city was in 2008, 2009 and to see where it is now, it’s like four or five skyscraper buildings that I would have never thought would be there. Hotels, trolleys to the city. I feel like a lot of that is because of the injection of a sports franchise into that city.”
Durant said he reached out to Silver for the removal of marijuana off the banned substances list. The NBA has become more accepting of use by players, especially when it comes to treatment of injuries.
“I actually called him and advocated for him to take marijuana off the banned substance list,” he said. “I just felt like it was becoming a thing around the country, around the world that the stigma behind it wasn’t as negative as it was before. It doesn’t affect you in any negative way.”
Former NBA player Michael Beasley continued his one-on-one interview with the Globe by discussing the BIG3 and offering some advice for those players who have struggled with mental health. Beasley admitted he struggled mentally in his first few years in the league.
Beasley wants to return to the NBA and just wants to play basketball.
“We’ve got two wins in a row and I wish we had a few more wins but we’re having fun playing basketball, traveling, being around old friends,” said Beasley, who leads the BIG3 in scoring, rebounds, and field goals. “I know it’s a half court and people think it’s a lot less running.
“But with it only being three players on the defensive side, the court is wide open. Way wide open defensively. Getting a layup up or a corner three, it don’t sound that hard when it’s five on five because you got the low man, you got help, you got the trigger man. In three on three there’s nobody out there so that run from the basket to the 3point line . . . to run somebody off the three is a long run.”
The NBA has strengthened its emphasis on helping players with mental health issues. And those players who admit mental health issues are more accepted than in the past generation. Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner recently missed three games to deal with mental health issues.
For Beasley, who has devised ways to deal with his issues, the NBA wasn’t so kind during his struggles, such as when former Minnesota general manager David Kahn basically called out Beasley for smoking too much marijuana. Marijuana was removed from the banned substances list in this current collective bargaining agreement.
Beasley said he isn’t bitter, and if he was, he wouldn’t go public.
“I have a very, very small group of friends and people that I tell those types of things to, so even if there was ill will or bitter feelings, I wouldn’t say it here,” he said. “That’s just messy.”
The hope for Beasley is to parlay his BIG3 success into a training camp invite. Is Beasley good enough to play in the NBA? He believes he is.
“I’m 100 percent comfortable on the basketball court,” he said. “Whether it’s on an NBA floor, whether it’s on a CBA floor, whether it’s in my home gym with my kids, I’m going to use those peak powers to play. I got a few goals . . . being a leader in the mental health space is one of them. But ultimately it’s just being a better me tomorrow, controlling what I can control. And just taking it a day at a time.”
Beasley offered one last bit of advice for young players entering the league with the demands of their team, family, and potential hangers-on waiting.
“Stay away from anybody you didn’t know last week,” he said. “That will take you a long way.”
Layups
The 2023 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame class is stellar, but the 2024 class lacks the big names besides 20-year veteran Vince Carter.
First-year eligible players are three-time Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford, former Bulls All-Star Joakim Noah, former No. 2 overall pick Marvin Williams,
and NBA champion Tyson Chandler.
With only Carter a likely lock, players who have been passed up in previous years should have strong opportunities to make the Hall. College great and longtime veteran Marques Johnson,
former Maverick and Piston Mark Aguirre, former Wizard Antawn Jamison,
ex-Suns point guard Kevin Johnson,
and Pistons great and Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups could be serious candidates. Remember folks, this is not the NBA Hall of Fame. Entire basketball résumés are considered, meaning high school, college, and international competition . . . The Suns will retire the numbers of former standouts Shawn Marion (No. 31) and Amar’e Stoudemire (No. 32) in a ceremony next season. Both were multiple-time All-Stars for the Suns and both are eligible for the Hall of Fame . . . Former second overall pick Jabari Parker backed out of an opportunity to play with the Bucks’ summer league team and has signed a deal with AC Barcelona, an opportunity for the injury-prone swingman to resurrect his career. Parker, who is only 28, played 22 games over two seasons with the Celtics but was waived in January 2022 and hasn’t played in the NBA since. Parker was expected to be a cornerstone for the Bucks when drafted in 2014 but he has been felled by a series of knee injuries, robbing him of his athleticism . . . . It’s August and there has been no resolution for the contract of P.J. Washington, a restricted free agent who has not received an offer sheet or agreed to a deal with the Hornets. Washington averaged 15.7 points per game last season but the Hornets do not appear interested in a lucrative long-term deal. They already have invested $250 million in LaMelo Ball and drafted Brandon Miller to essentially play the same position . . . The Celtics released Justin Champagnie to create an open roster spot and are astutely waiting for quality remaining free agents to accept their league-minimum offer. Blake Griffin remains a candidate to return and there are players such as Kelly Oubre, Jaylen Nowell, and even former lottery pick Justise Winslow
available.