Everyone agrees that Tony Parker found great success while playing for the San Antonio Spurs.
During his 17 years with the team, he earned four championships, six All-Star selections, and was named Finals MVP too.
But toward the end of his career, he decided to depart from the Spurs instead of playing with them until retirement.
He instead chose to play for the Charlotte Hornets for just a single season.
Parker told ESPN he did it because of the appeal of working alongside Hornets co-owner Michael Jordan.
“I did it because I wanted to spend time with my idol,” Parker said.
Parker said the move wasn’t meant to tarnish his time with the Spurs or the relationships that he had with fellow players and coaches.
In fact, he still has nothing but praise for his peers in San Antonio.
But the chance to work with Jordan, as well as fellow Frenchman Nicolas Batum, was enough to get Parker to move to North Carolina.
At that point in his career, Parker was playing far less than before.
His age and injuries had caught up with the guard and he only performed for 17.9 minutes a night and didn’t start in any games during his single season with the Hornets.
Another thing that surely led to his choice was that his legacy was already secured.
Few players ever had a career like Parker’s and there was little left to do and nothing left to prove.
Therefore, he wanted to spend the twilight of his career pursuing a passion project and that was playing for the Hornets.
All these years later, few people talk about his brief stint in Charlotte.
Instead, they talk about him as one of the best Spurs players ever.
Now, they will also talk about him as a Hall of Famer.
NEXT: Tony Parker Discusses His Expectations For Victor Wembanyama
