NBA: San Antonio Spurs to honour Tony Parker in November by retiring French legend's jersey

Los Angeles: The San Antonio Spurs said Friday they will retire Tony Parker’s Number 9 jersey on  11 November, when they host the Memphis Grizzlies in an NBA regular-season game. Parker will become the 10th player in Spurs franchise history to have his number raised to the rafters, joining Bruce Bowen (12), Tim Duncan (21), Sean Elliott (32), George Gervin (44), Manu Ginobili (20), Avery Johnson (6), Johnny Moore (00), David Robinson (50) and James Silas (13). [caption id=“attachment_7178881” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Tony Parker represented the San Antonio Spurs in 17 of his 18 seasons in the NBA. Reuters[/caption] France’s Parker played 17 of his 18 NBA seasons in San Antonio, helping the Spurs capture four titles. He was the 2007 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, becoming the first European player to claim that honor. Originally selected by San Antonio with the 28th overall pick in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft, Parker is the Spurs leader in assists (6,829), while ranking second in games played (1,198), fourth in points (18,943) and steals (1,032), fifth in free throws made (3,309) and sixth in rebounds (3,313). He announced his retirement from the NBA in June, having played his last season with the Charlotte Hornets. Parker is one of five players in NBA history to post at least 19,000 points and 7,000 assists, along with Oscar Robertson, John Stockton, Gary Payton and LeBron James. He played in a total of 1,254 career games in 18 seasons with the Spurs and Hornets, averaging 15.5 points, 5.6 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 30.5 minutes. Parker finished his career seventh in NBA history with 892 wins.