Tony Parker agrees to play for ASVEL Villeurbanne for just $2k – NBA Update
Goodbye San Antonio Spurs and Bonjour Villeurbanne.
Yes, Tony Parker will be representing ASVEL Villeurbanne, a French club basket ball team, in a few days time.
That is not all though.
Tony will be playing there for only $2,000 a month and will pay the insurance money from his own pocket too.
Surprised? Don’t be.
For one, rather than staying idle for the time, the NBA lockout lasts; Parker will make use of his time playing for the club he partially owns. Tony has a twenty percent stake in ASVEL and this comes as no surprise that he opted
to play for it in the lockout.
Secondly, Parker believes that he possesses good management skills and dreams of owning a club in future. The main reason behind him joining ASVEL now is to hone his managerial skills and get some experience working along with
club president Gilles Moretton.
"I always said that after my career I wanted to be the president of a club and manage a club, with Gilles, I have the perfect president to learn from. He can train me so that I am ready in 10 years when I retire” Parker said at
a news conference at a luxury Paris hotel recently.
The 6 ft 2 point guard from San Antonio Spurs hails from France. He learned the basics of the game playing in Asvel and now as every NBA activity is at halt due to lockout, Parker believes it is the best time for him to return
the favour to the club that gave him a kick start in his career.
"The reason I'm back is because I want to give something back for everything I've received from the club, I will be at training, I will play in the European Cup and all the matches in France. And I'll be taking the bus like everyone
else." He said.
Parker brought the shares in the club three years after he and some other stars from Spurs, played a game against a French club at ASVEL arena. Earlier this year, he was made the general manager of operations of the club, a post
which gives him authority to have his say in hiring of players, contract negotiations and agent dealing matters.
Parker said he wishes to groom ASVEL into one of the greatest clubs in Europe and later construct an academy for young players which can groom them into professionals. The move might not be very attractive financially, but will
be a good learning curve for him and will definitely help him in the long run.
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