The NBA will play its first-ever game in Paris in 2020, and it could impact Tony Parker's future
The NBA is going to Paris. The league announced Thursday that the Charlotte Hornets will play the Milwaukee Bucks in Paris during the 2020 season. It will be the first-ever NBA game to be played in the city.
The game will take place January 24, 2020.
There are likely two major reasons why the Hornets were picked for the contest. The team has both Tony Parker and Nicolas Batum under contract. Both players are French.
While Batum’s $25 million salary should guarantee his spot on the team next season, Parker’s situation is a bit more cloudy. The 36-year-old Parker is owed $5 million next season. Given his age, and the fact that the Spurs were looking at Parker as a mentor and not a player last offseason, it’s possible the Hornets won’t bring him back.
If they do, it could make for a special moment next January. Parker would receive a friendly welcome from French basketball fans who got to see him play in the French basketball league so many years ago. It would be reminiscent of Ichiro Suzuki returning to Japan with the Seattle Mariners for his final game.
Suzuki immediately retired after that game, which made for a tremendous sports moment. It’s premature to wonder whether Parker would consider the same fate.
If Parker is present for the game, it would provide a nice bookend for his fantastic career. He’ll go down as a Spurs legend once he calls it quits, but he was a star in France long before he reached the NBA.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik
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