The French basketball player, quadruple NBA champion with the San Antonio Spurs, is notably accompanied by Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Dwyane Wade. Class 2023 will be announced on April 1.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
A new consecration is in sight for Tony Parker. The French basketball player, is part of the list of finalists to enter the “Hall of Fame” of the NBA, the pantheon of the glory of the North American basketball league, announced the body on Friday, February 17.
The former tricolor leader, crowned in the prestigious American championship in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014 with San Antonio and appointed best player on the 2007 final, was selected six times at the All-Star Game (2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014). He should join Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, already members of the Hall of Fame, with whom he has long formed the “Big 3” winning Spurs. Their coach Gregg Popovich, still active at the head of the Texan team at 74, could well find them too since he is named among the coaches.
On 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 the Kobe Lakers Bryant in 2009 and 2010, is Spanish. The American Dwyane Wade, champion three times with Miami (2006, 2012, 2013), completes this prestigious quartet. 2>
number 9 already withdrawn from spurs
“TP” has already entered the Pantheon of the San Antonio Spurs in November 2019. The Texas franchise had decided to symbolically remove its jersey – flocked with a number 9 that no other player of the club will wear – who appears suspended on the ceiling of the enclosure where Spurs play.
Class 2023 of the Hall of Fame will be known on 1 er April and the introduction of the lucky elected officials 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 success, has the record for the number of victories in the university league.
Finally, four women are also named, including Becky Hammon, former WNBA player, the North American women’s championship, which has become a coach. From 2014 to 2021, she was the assistant of Gregg Popovich at the San Antonio Spurs, becoming the time of a short interim the first woman main coach of a professional male team in one of the four main sports in North America (Basketball, American football, baseball, ice hockey).