Report: San Antonio Spurs Shopping Tony Parker


by Marcel Mutoni@marcel_mutoni

After the league-leading San Antonio Spurs were unceremoniously booted out of the Playoffs this year, point guard Tony Parker told the French media that his current team’s window to win a championship had been shut closed.

Parker, naturally, denied having said such a thing when the San Antonio press asked him about it.

But with the NBA Draft looming, and the Spurs clearly needing to shake things up, Tony Parker may soon find himself chasing a title in another city.

Yahoo! Sports reports:

The Spurs have talked to teams in the lottery, including the Toronto Raptors and Sacramento Kings, who hold the fifth and seventh picks, respectively. The Kings are determined to get a frontline point guard, and have also talked with the Denver Nuggets about Raymond Felton.

It’s unclear who the Spurs would prefer to take if they acquired a high lottery pick. If the Spurs were to trade [Tony] Parker, George Hill could become their starting point guard. League sources said Hill also has drawn trade interest from teams willing to give the Spurs a pick near the back end of the lottery.

The 29-year old Tony Parker — who signed a 4-year, $50 million extension last October — had a solid bounce-back season (17.5 points, 6.6 assists per game) following his injury-riddled 2009-’10 campaign, but struggled in the first round Playoff defeat at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies.

If they can’t get a quality floor general like Raymond Felton, one would think that San Antonio would want something better than the 5th or 7th pick in return for Parker, in what is generally considered a very weak NBA Draft this year.

Unless, of course, Tony was right in his assessment of the team all along, and it’s time for the Spurs to start slowly rebuilding.