After 18 seasons in the NBA, point guard Tony Parker plans to retire from the NBA, Marc Spears of The Undefeated reports.
The 37-year-old had a reasonably productive year with the Charlotte Hornets after 17 years as a member of the San Antonio Spurs but cited several reasons for his decision to walk away.
“At the end of the day,” Parker said, “If I can’t be Tony Parker anymore and I can’t play for a championship, I don’t want to play basketball anymore.“
Parker put up 9.5 points and 3.7 assists per game for the Hornets this season but it was an adjustment for the guard to begin a campaign without a reasonable chance of competing for an NBA title.
Parker was a member of a scrappy Hornets team led by former Spurs assistant James Borrego that competed for but ultimately missed out on a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference.
The two-year deal that he signed last summer has a fully non-guaranteed 2019-20 year so the Hornets will be able to waive him without eating the $5 million-plus otherwise owed to him.
