Tony Parker won four NBA championships during his time with the San Antonio Spurs, but he isn’t immune to criticism.
Parker, who made six NBA All-Star appearances during his professional career and won NBA Finals MVP in 2007, was the subject of conversation during a recent podcast featuring Stephen Jackson and Dejounte Murray.
Both players are former Spurs who played alongside Parker at different points of the guard’s tenure in San Antonio.
Jackson was teammates with Parker when the French star was a rookie in 2001 until 2003 and then again once Parker had already won titles between 2012 and 2014. Murray was drafted in 2016 and shared a locker room with Parker until the veteran left for the Hornets in 2018.
Dejounte Murray opens up about his time with the Spurs. 👀
(🎥: @shobasketball) pic.twitter.com/KODOpJw3x6
— theScore (@theScore) January 19, 2023
Murray, as a guest on Showtime Basketball’s All The Smoke, revealed how he actually felt about Parker:
“My second year, they see I come back obviously getting stronger, getting better. And then that was the year I took the job from Tony. Pop brought us in the office. He told Tony. Tony ain’t like it. I know he ain’t like it … Cuz if he he liked it, he would have mentored me the way he should have. He wouldn’t have went to Charlotte. He would have stayed right there.”
Murray replaced Parker’s spot in the starting lineup in January 2018.
Former Spurs player Stephen Jackson (@DaTrillStak5) says that Tony Parker is a selfish player, a great player,Hall of Famer,but selfish.Says that the Spurs would have won more rings if Tony wasn’t so selfish, and said Manu Ginobili is totally different.
🎥: @Showtime/Up In Smoke pic.twitter.com/IOB6Dmy7q4
— Carolina Teague (@carolinateague_) January 19, 2023
Jackson wasn’t surprised to hear Murray felt this way about Parker and shared similar sentiments:
“I know the type of person Tony is. Great player, going to go down in the Hall of Fame. But he’s very selfish. He’s been selfish. We would have had more championships and more success if it wasn’t for him being so selfish. But he was told as a 16, 17-year-old in France that he was this. He come to the NBA, start as a 19-year-old. But he had a rude awakening … I know the real Tony. He can fool everybody else, but he is one of the most selfish players I have ever played with … It’s all about him. I don’t know how he made it in that system so long.”
Jackson has previously blamed Parker for San Antonio’s exit from the playoffs in 2012. He has called Parker a “double agent” who “would look him off on purpose” rather than pass him the ball.
Jackson has also said he has no interest in ever speaking to Parker again.
