San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker announced on Thursday his retirement from participating in international play after the French national team's 92-67 loss to Spain in the quarterfinals of the ongoing 2016 Rio Olympics men's basketball tournament.
Playing for the France, the 34-year-old floor general was awarded the 2013 EuroBasket MVP for leading team to the gold medal after beating Lithuania, 80-66, in the final. He had eight years of participation in EuroBasket and had played for the French squad since he was 15 years old.
"I just took a lot of pride playing for the national team," Parker said, via Yahoo Sports. "I just love playing in this competition. I love this atmosphere, which is very different than the NBA. Growing up, my dream was to win an NBA championship. That was my ultimate goal. But as I grew up, I fell in love with the national team."
The report noted that even if Parker's international stint has been "a bit of a mixed bag", the two-time EuroBasket top scorer and Player of the Year awardee "will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the best FIBA players of this era".
Meanwhile, ESPN's Marc Stein reported that Parker's France national squad retirement is in fulfillment of his vow to Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and team president RC Buford that he will step away from the international game by age 34 and that he will "focus on finishing his NBA career strongly".
The six-time NBA All-star also insisted that he is not going to "change his mind" about hanging his international sneakers.
Parker also had something to say about the retirement of teammate and friend Tim Duncan, this time from the NBA itself.
"The conversation with Timmy, it was weird when he told me he was not going to play," said Parker. "I knew that was going to come one day, with the Big Three without him, but it's always tough when it finally happens."
"I've been very blessed - that's all I can say. Those 15 years, all the championships, all the records, everything that we accomplished, it's just stuff when I retire I can cherish and show my kids everything that we won with the Spurs," he said.
Parker added that he was also glad Argentina star Manu Ginobili, the third part of San Antonio's Big Three the point guard mentioned, is not retiring together with Duncan and they could still play together for at least one more year.
