Tony Parker
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Tony Parker (born May 17, 1982 in Bruges, Belgium) is an NBA basketball player, with the San Antonio Spurs, and captain of the French national basketball team.
Parker, although born in Belgium, was raised in France, and is a French citizen. His father was an American professional basketball player and his mother a Dutch model.
Before playing in NBA, Parker played 2 years in the French championship (1999-2001) for the Paris Basket Racing team.
When Parker played against the Los Angeles Clippers on November 30 of 2001, he became the second French player ever to play in an NBA game, the first being Tariq Abdul-Wahad. (Dominique Wilkins was also born in France, but he is a U.S. citizen by birth, and was raised in North Carolina.) Parker is also the youngest member of the Spurs to play in the NBA at 19 years, 6 months and 13 days of age.
Parker, a starting point guard on the team, then helped his team win the 2003 NBA championship, when the Spurs defeated the New Jersey Nets four games to two in the NBA Finals. He has scored a career high of 32 points in a game twice.
As of 2003, Parker has scored 2,000 career points in the NBA, for an average of 12.4 points per game, 771 assists for an average of 4.8 per game, and 264 rebounds, for 2.6 rebounds per game.
With the French national basketball team, Tony Parker was a member of the national under 20 team and won the European under 20 championship in 2000, he was elected MVP of the tournament.
With the senior team, Parker has since played the European Championships 2001 and 2003 and became Captain since the 2003 European Championship.
Off the court, Parker has been linked to actress Eva Longoria; she (a Texas native) has been spotted at several Spurs games, while Parker served as her red carpet companion at the 2005 SAG Awards.
Honours
- NBA Champion - 2003
- French championship rookie of the year - 2001
- European under 20 Champion - 2000de:Tony Parker