The San Antonio Spurs will be without Tony Parker for the remainder of the postseason. Given the nature of Parker’s injury and the point in his career at which it occurred, many are wondering if we have seen the last of the star point guard in the NBA.
Parker suffered a torn quadriceps in Game 2 against the Houston Rockets Wednesday night. On Friday, the Spurs announced that the veteran underwent successful surgery.
Tony Parker Injury Update: pic.twitter.com/UFQ0w4FYHd
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) May 5, 2017
According to orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Chao, the recovery timetable for an injury like Parker’s is typically 6-9 months.
Anticipate 6-9 month recovery.
Typically not a career ending injury but easily could be for a 34 year old point guard. https://t.co/Psjf6i9XF3— David J. Chao, MD (@ProFootballDoc) May 5, 2017
That’s about the same as a torn ACL, and we have seen plenty of NBA players bounce back from those. However, as Chao notes, Parker is 34. He’ll turn 35 in two weeks, and he is entering the final year of his deal with San Antonio. Parker had to have retirement in the back of his mind before the injury, so what now?
Even if he can rehab and get back into playing shape, it would be unreasonable to expect Parker to play many more seasons. He could decide that this is simply the end of the road, and no one would blame him.
Parker is currently 22nd in NBA history with 6,634 assists. He’s fifth in total playoff assists with 1,137 and ninth in total playoff scoring with 4,012 points. In addition to all that, he has won four NBA titles and been named the MVP of the NBA Finals once.
What more is there to accomplish? After suffering a devastating injury at an unfortunate time, Parker may decide that the answer to that is “nothing.”
