Tony Parker: Spurs Star's Tremendous Pay Cut with France Makes Zero Sense
Tony Parker is about to be making less money than you are.
The San Antonio Spurs All-Star point guard is the latest NBA player to agree to terms on a contract with an International team during the NBA lockout.
He has decided to join ASVEL in France and will be paid…$1,995 a month.
No, I’m not missing any extra nine’s in that figure. A player that is scheduled to make $12.5 million in the 2011-12 NBA season is going to get taking the biggest pay cut in the history of sports.
What the heck is he thinking?
Parker is already prone to injury and has been banged up with some sort of ankle injury on and off for seemingly forever. The risk he will be playing with every game has to have fans in San Antonio incredibly terrified.
Fox Sports Southwest explains the rationale of Parker’s decision:
"In 2009, Parker bought a 20 percent stake in ASVEL and currently serves as the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the club.
Parker told the sports daily L'Equipe that the decision is "logical," telling the paper "I'll be playing nearly for free...If I play the entire season, we'll go for the title."
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He’s scheduled to play his first game on October 14.
If I’m San Antonio management, I immediately begin to get more vocal in the labor negotiations. Parker, at 6'2", 185 lbs., plays a game that is based off creating contact.
He drives down the lane, creates the contact in the paint and goes to the foul line quite often. Since Parker is playing in his home country, every player is going to defend him with extreme aggressiveness as they tried to impress their idol.
To put his body on the line for a team he has a 20 percent stake in is noble and unselfish. It’s a great P.R. story, especially in France.
Yet the risk doesn’t outweigh the reward and now the entire Spurs franchise is forced to hold their breath every time Parker drives the lane on a 20-year-old no name that is trying to impress the player he grew up obsessing over.
It’s not a necessary situation to be in and just the latest example of why the lockout needs to end ASAP.
