A new consecration is in sight for Tony Parker. The French basketball player is on the list of finalists to enter the NBA “Hall of Fame”, the pantheon of glory of the North American Basketball League, the body announced on Friday, February 17.
The former tricolor leader, crowned in the prestigious American championship in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014 with San Antonio and named best player of the 2007 final, was selected six times in the All-Star Game (2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 , 2013 and 2014). He is expected to join Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, with whom he has long formed Spurs’ winning ‘Big 3’. Their coach Gregg Popovich, still active at the head of the Texas team at 74, could well find them too since he is named among the coaches.
Of the four former NBA stars named for this edition, three are foreign since Dirk Nowitzki, champion in 2011 with Dallas and MVP of the 2007 season, is German, and Paul Gasol, twice titled with Kobe Bryant’s Lakers in 2009 and 2010, is Spanish. The American Dwyane Wade, three-time champion with Miami (2006, 2012, 2013), completes this prestigious quartet.
Number 9 already retired from Spurs
“TP” already entered the San Antonio Spurs pantheon in November 2019. The Texas franchise had decided to symbolically remove his jersey – flocked with a number 9 that no other club player will wear – which appears suspended from the ceiling of the arena where Spurs play.
The Hall of Fame Class of 2023 will be announced on May 1er April and the introduction of the lucky ones will take place on August 11 and 12 in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Four other former coaches appear alongside Popovich, including Gene Bess, who, with 1,300 successes, has the record for the number of victories in the university championship.
Finally, four women are also named, including Becky Hammon, a former player in the WNBA, the North American women’s championship, who has become a coach. From 2014 to 2021, she was Gregg Popovich’s assistant at the San Antonio Spurs, becoming the first female head coach of a professional men’s team in one of the four major sports in North America. (basketball, American football, baseball, ice hockey).
