Tony Parker Injured In France
The San Antonio Spurs have arguably had the best offseason of anyone in the League. They added Richard Jefferson for nothing, signed free agent Antonio McDyess, somehow managed to pick up DaJuan Blair in the Draft, and maybe know something no one else does about this guy, officially re-stocking a roster that can clearly contend for a title during the few years that Tim Duncan has left in the tank.
None of that means anything though with Tony Parker in the mix, which is why this report this morning has undoubtedly led to legions of Spurs fans collectively throwing up in their mouths:
From wire reports -
Spurs guard Tony Parker suffered two injuries to his right leg in a collision with an opponent while playing for the French national team against Austria on Friday night in Strasbourg, France.
According to French sports newspaper L’Equipe, Parker left the game on a crutch after 12 minutes with a sharp pain in his right thigh after colliding with Austria’s Stjepan Stazic. Though that injury soon subsided, Parker’s right ankle became swollen. By Saturday morning, it was clear the ankle was the greater issue.
In a statement released by the French Basketball Federation, Parker said that the collision caused “a blow to my thigh, and my ankle also turned.”
Parker described the MRI of his ankle as “reassuring,” calling the injury “a minor sprain, without any ligament damage.”
Parker is expected to be ready when France’s Eurobasket 2009 qualification effort gets back under way on Aug. 5 against Italy in Cagliari.
Despite the fact that everything seems to be ok, for a guy who has had ankle issues in the past, this is most definitely not what Spurs fans want to hear. Something like this brings up a topic that Mark Cuban always rails against when his guys are involved – when an NBA club is paying a guy a ton of money, at what point can they tell their player that he can’t mess around with his national team in the offseason? We’re sure that Rockets fans wish that their team had told Yao Ming to chill in the offseason the last few summers instead of playing with the Chinese National team. There’s no solid proof that that the extra wear and tear has led to his foot condition, but it certainly hasn’t helped. And now the Rockets’ season is basically done months before it even starts.
Should NBA teams be able to to protect their investment and bar their players from international competition in the offseason?
Source: mysanantonio.com
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July 27th, 2009 at 10:34 am
SK says:
Injuries happen. Could of been at a national team game, or at practice, or a pickup game. How would Team USA like it if the Lakers, Cavs, Heat held out their stars for the camps and international competition? Probably wouldn’t fly.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:36 am
Mr. TKO says:
Sucks to hear about TP, but you can’t really stop somebody from playing overseas or at least you shouldn’t. Most people become basketball players because they love playing the game, and then they’re lucky enough to get paid massive amounts of money to do it, But if they are in Basketball because they love it, it stands to reason that they would love to do it for something important to them as well. I.E. their home country
So it’s sort of a lose lose situation for their teams. Just cuz you make money off of this player and pay them nice money, it doesn’t mean that you completely own them neither.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:38 am
rangerjohn says:
man when will these guys learn to stop the off season mess.
i understand guys want the honor of playing for their country and all but DAMN your meal ticket is not playing in france, argentina, russia, germany, china, it is playing in the nba!
i mean damn how many years has tony played for france? i think he has earned a break from the national team.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Duke says:
He’s lying. It was a moped accident.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:39 am
G says:
Im surprised this issue has not been built into contracts yet.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:49 am
jay26th says:
@G
I agree. I dont think it is an owner’s place to prohibit a player from spending his offseason playing for their national team. I just expect a clause to be put in a players contract in the event that a player sustain a serious injury.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:50 am
sweetv0mit says:
here we go with the argument about players joining the national team… how about the united states players? i havent heard anybody say anything about it! hmmm maybe coz it didnt really affect them right?
July 27th, 2009 at 10:55 am
PM says:
They cannot. Unless they write it in their contract. Irrespective of the amount a club pays.
July 27th, 2009 at 10:59 am
netstar882211 says:
@Duke
hahahahah
July 27th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Soul Brova1 says:
it could’ve happened first day of camp with the Spurs…or during his routine offseason workouts. Players get paid to play during the season, offseason they are off the clock…that’s like your employer mandating what you can and can’t do after you punch out. When I broke my hand the doctor said when he took the cast off that it would be two weeks before i could play ball again; i played in a league playoff game that same night. people thought i was stupid and crazy buit i could have fell down a flight of stairs and broke it again or something. It’s a thing calle dlife and you never know what might happen or when it’ll happen.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Prof. TX says:
You can keep a player from riding a motorcycle or skydiving, but you can’t really write a contract that keeps a basketball player from playing basketball. Playing for the national team is no more or less risky that practicing hard in the offseason. It’s not a stupid risk like some players take, more game time just makes you better at the game.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:42 am
bone0315 says:
@ #7…that is a great point that no one is mentioning. Not once has anyone said anything about pulling American-born players from playing on Team USA, it is always the Internation guys. It has to be an all-in or all-out rule. I am sure there is some xenophobia behind all of this whereas some fans (and maybe owners) want guys like TP, Yao, Dirk, Manu etc out of International ball so America has a better chance of winning, which is sad.
Injuries happen. If you ban these guys from playing internationally, they are going to play somewhere. Better it be in an organzied, sanctioned tournament where they are going all out vs a pick-up game at the local Y where guys are going half speed, and thus more likely to be injured.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:50 am
jzsmoove says:
I hope its a minor injury. TD needs another ring and it cant be done without TP.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:51 am
mess says:
This might sound naive, but can’t teams add some sort of clause to the players’ contracts (both local and foreign), that gives the team the right to not pay a portion of the salary if a player is injured doing something outside of NBA basketball. Or better yet, should the players be required to purchase some sort of insurance policy to protect the team financially if the player is injured playing for their national team (or riding a moped)?
July 27th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
ContractGuy says:
Sure, but it should be negotiable. “Tony, we cannot allow you to play international or national ball in any uniform expect the Spurs.” “Sure Pop, but that’s going to cost you.” “How much Tony?” “A lot Pop–a lot.” And so on.
In a nutshell, the two should be free to negotiate and execute contracts on whatever the terms, but should be made to pay for those terms.
July 27th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
bone0315 says:
@ #14 – Sure a team could try to write that into a contract but it is doubtful a player would sign such a contract and even more doubtful that the NBA would approve such a contract. Stern is still trying to globalize the game. I know he would not be happy to see this written into contracts.
Plus, on the American side, his good buddy Colangelo is running USA Basketball. So nothing drastic will happen to be a deterrent to him.
July 27th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
karizmatic says:
No I’ve always believed that you cannot and should not stop a guy from representing his national team. I think that’s part of the risk you run when drafting or signing an international player. That should be inherent with signing an international player and owner’s or gm’s should figure that into their risk/reward analysis. Player’s should be smart though and not try to play every single international event, but you know how that goes. How do you say no to your country?
July 27th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Dirk says:
You know some big corporations dont allow an employee to work anywhere else or in the same field for that matter due to conflict of interest, why should sports be any different. Teams should have a clause no playing on other teams period.
July 27th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Korver says:
“i mean damn how many years has tony played for france? i think he has earned a break from the national team.”
he just doesn’t want to, as simple as that, he’s the heart and soul of this team which is BTW collapsing for three years now …
we’ve lost againt ukraine last year with TP so you have to guess what could happen without him : not even being at Euro Champs
crazy things with almost ten guys in nba : tp, diaw, piétrus, turiaf, batum, noah, petro, gelabale, ajinca … ( ok those aren’t all legit players )and soon beaubois or de colo. what a waste
July 27th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Arno says:
If it was regular season, the guy would be listed as say to day and would maybe miss a couple games, which wouldn’t be such big business. But this is the emptiest part of the off season and we need somethong to talk about…
As far as contracts are concerned, how could a ball club forbid a player like Parker to play for his national team when every euro of his learning years was paid for by the French basketball governing body ?
Of course, they can put something about it in a contract, but TP was always adamant he wouldn’t agree on any restriction to his playing with the French NT.
July 27th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
the cynic says:
The Spurs are good enough to handle minor injuries to any of there players, as long as the injury isn’t lingering
July 27th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
doc says:
If it aint in the contract you signed they cant say shit.A lot of NBA players sprained they ankles this summer balling in workouts or scrimmages it just aint getting reported.The first game of the season TP gonna be blowing by cats like it aint shit.
July 27th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
rangerjohn says:
@ # 7
nobody has mentioned it BUT nobody also mentions when players decide they dont want to play for a team either. IE last olympics tim duncan was asked to play with team usa and he declined because it was better for the spurs and his health. what would the cavs fans say if labron got hurt playing in teh last olympics? or what if kobe got hurt, or wade? the only reason it has not been mentioned is because it has yet to happen. that is the ONLY reason it has not been mentioned.
the nba can take a page out of the ufc’s book, you will fight (play) for us and only us or you will not fight (play) with us period. the nba has the players by teh nuts if they want to in this case.
July 27th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
sh!tfaced says:
Perhaps NBA teams just need to set some restrictions for players who want play for their country.
-Like when a player is at a certain age where injuries are likely to happen.
-If the team had a long season, going deep in the playoffs.
-Maybe when a player has hit 30 yrs old and/or has fulfilled 4 or 5 “tour of duties” for their country.
Then that team can now set limits or has earned the right to bar that player from other competitions.
July 28th, 2009 at 5:55 am
alamo says:
You are not being serious are you?
Country is not a negotiation.
Plus, for those who still don’t know, there’s an insurance policy to pay for risky players, i.e those who have been during the past season.
And we should have questionned this matter when Wade missed the whole season with the Heat and still made it to the OG…
Come on!