Parker returns for first time in other uniform tonight.
Popovich, fans welcome back Parker, the point guard who guided four NBA titles in S.A.
From an Alamodome water cannon going off during the 199495 season opener to Dennis Rodman’s outrageous behavior to Manu Ginobili swatting a bat in flight, Gregg Popovich has witnessed plenty of strange and sometimes surreal sights during his long tenure with the Spurs.
On Monday night, the coach will have to adjust his eyes to another oddity when Tony Parker steps onto the AT&T Center court wearing purple, teal and white rather than silver and black.
“It will really look weird, won’t it, seeing him in another uniform?” Popovich said.
After that initial shock to the system subsides, Popovich will have to deal with another challenge: Keeping his emotions in check while greeting Parker on the court for the first time since he signed with the Charlotte Hornets last July.
“He’s a special young man,” Popovich said. “I always felt like a second daddy to him over the years, and he’s been like a son in all kinds of ways.”
Eleven days after fans booed former Spur Kawhi Leonard mercilessly in his first game in San Antonio as a member of the Toronto Raptors, Parker is set to return to a lovefest befitting a franchise icon.
“He is going to get a very, very warm welcome,” Spurs guard Patty Mills said. “The city loves him. They always have, and vice versa. … He’s excited about returning.”
In an interview with the Express-News shortly after he left the Spurs after 17 seasons and four championships to sign a two-year, $10 million contract with the Hornets, Parker predicted his return this season would be “very, very emotional.”
“I won’t be surprised if there are tears in my eyes,” Parker said.
Others, especially Popovich, might also well up.
“Anxious to see him,” the coach said.
To understand the depth of the relationship between Popovich and Parker, one must go back to the beginning of the friendship. To those days long before the proud Frenchman became a six-time All-Star, a four-time AllNBA choice, the most valuable player of the 2007 NBA Finals and a slam-dunk future Hall of Fame point guard. To those painful times when Popovich ripped into Parker like he has no other player. To when Popovich had to find out quickly if the 19-year-old rookie had the mental toughness to handle the NBA and play its most difficult position.
“He gave me no time,” Parker told the San Antonio ExpressNews in a February 2017 interview. “He told me, ‘You’re either going to make it or break it. If not, I’m going to trade your ass.’ ”
Parker passed the stern test, proving he could serve as an extension of Popovich on the court. In time, the coach gave the student more freedom, and “our relationship grew,” Parker said.
But the bond between the two wasn’t just about basketball. Along the way, Popovich passed on valuable life lessons.
“How to be a good person,” Parker said. “How to carry yourself and be a professional. He helped me a lot with that.”
And Parker paid Popovich back by being there for him in the toughest of times. When Popovich’s wife Erin died April 18, 2018, Parker rushed to comfort his coach.
“To be with him last night at his house, to share those moments with his family, it was very emotional,” Parker told reporters the next day.
Less than three months later, Parker was headed to Charlotte.
“The Spurs will always be home,” he told the Express-
News. “San Antonio will always be a big part of my life. At the end, I just felt like the Hornets wanted me more.”
Make no mistake. The Spurs wanted him to stay. The difference was the Hornets offered playing time, while the Spurs were interested in bringing him back in a mentorship role on a one-year contract with no assurances of steady minutes.
But at age 36, Parker wasn’t ready to “become a coach before I’m really a coach.” Not after vowing to play 20 seasons and certainly not after fighting his way back from a career-threatening quad injury he suffered in the 2017 playoffs.
“He’s obviously got playing left in him,” Popovich said last week.
After informing Popovich of his plans, Parker finalized the deal with the Hornets.
“He wasn’t ready to retire, that’s for sure,” Popovich said.
Indeed, Parker is averaging 9.4 points and 3.8 assists — both improvements over last season — in 18.4 minutes over 37 games as AllStar Kemba Walker’s backup.
Four times this season Parker has scored 20 or more points after producing only one such game in 55 appearances last season.
“The situation is great for him,” Popovich said. “He is doing a great job. He’s playing.”
As it turns out, that also might have been the case had he stayed with the Spurs. When Dejounte Murray suffered a season-ending knee injury in the preseason, the Spurs needed a veteran hand to run the offense.
“We didn’t know that Dejounte was going to go down when all these decisions were made and we all talked about everything for the future,” Popovich said. “But (Parker has) landed in a good place and he’s having a good season. And he’s happy. He’s enjoying the heck out of it. As long as he is happy, I’m happy.”
But Popovich’s happiness won’t make seeing Parker wearing a different uniform any easier.
“It pulls at the heart-strings a little bit,” Popovich said.
Parker’s return will conjure memories of how great he was in his prime as a member of the Spurs’ vaunted Big Three along with Tim Duncan and Ginobili. The video tribute the Spurs will air on the JumboTron before the game no doubt will include many clips of his trademark teardrop shot and cat-quick drives, which often ended with him flat on his back.
“Sometimes I would tell him to stop falling down, because when you are 43 you are going to have to have a hip replacement,” Popovich said. “But he hit the deck quite a lot … and bounced right back up. It never bothered him.”
Mills said Parker “always putting his body on the line for the good of the team” inspired his teammates.
“You would see him cramp for a little bit or whatever, and then the next second he is back up and doing the same thing again,” Mills said.
As a teenager in Australia, Mills watched Parker on TV and dreamed of playing professional basketball.
“He was an inspiration for a lot of short, quick guards in the NBA,” Mills said. “To watch him get to the rim with such ease at his height, that stood out.”
When Mills signed with the Spurs in 2011, he found a ready mentor in Parker.
“He took me under his wing the first few years of being here, helped me understand the ropes, what’s expected from players, and especially point guards,” Mills said. “I learned a ton from him. … I have a lot to thank him for.”
The same is true of Murray. Not only did Parker tutor him, but he graciously stepped into a reserve role after Popovich anointed the then-second-year pro as the starter at point guard in January 2018.
Parker made sure he passed the torch without drama, ensuring a seamless transition for Murray.
“That’s what you would expect from somebody who has his character and who cares about other people,” Popovich said of Parker. “He’s been great on and off the court for all those years.”
Over the last five months, Parker and Popovich have talked “frequently,” the coach said. On Monday night, their conversation will be face to face, in public and likely emotional.
Afterward, the two will hug, say goodbye and head their separate ways with their bond as tight as ever.
“He’s always going to be part of my thoughts,” Popovich said. “He’s just a friend for life and somebody I will always care about.”