NBA Free Agency Watch: Tony Parker Is Now A Hornet

Well folks, it’s officially the end of an era. For the first time since the 2001 season, Tony Parker will not be a Spur. I can’t say this is a surprise, anyone who has paid attention to the Spurs knows that the writing was on the wall as soon as Pop made Dejounte Murray the starter, but that doesn’t mean this still isn’t weird to see. At 35 he’s coming off a season in which he played in just 55 games and averaged 7.7/3.5 with 45/27% splits, so it’s not like he can’t be effective in a reserve role, he was just hurt last year which obviously you can expect with a player his age.

From a Spurs standpoint, I doubt they’ll miss him, especially if Derrick White’s Summer League performances find a way to translate over to the regular season, and honestly between Duncan and then Manu/Parker, the guard has been changing in SA for a while now. One of the best dynasties in league history will look much different moving forward, whether that includes Kawhi or not. It was a hell of a run and we should all take a quick 5 seconds to appreciate it. From an end of the first round pick to a Finals MVP, Parker had a fantastic career as a Spur and is for sure a Hall Of Fame talent.

The question now turns to CHA and what this means for their roster. Is Parker going there to be a backup or does this mean a potential Kemba deal could be in the works? There were rumors that Jordan was trying to shed salary, and who knows maybe the plan is for Parker to be the stop gap guard until they bring in the next full time point guard. Some may say that had that at the draft before they traded SGA to the Clippers, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens with teams like CLE or any other team that’s currently in the point guard market. My guess is that Parker will simply be the back up and Kemba will remain in CHA, but we’ve certainly seen crazier shit happen.

For Spurs fans this is a bittersweet moment I’m sure, so allow me to help you out on this Friday afternoon with a nice little highlight compilation so you can say your goodbyes.