[3] Born and raised in Minsk by parents who both coached national Belarusian team sports, Parakhouski grew up playing football (soccer) until age 16.

[4] Parakhouski was spotted by Ali Ton, then a Binghamton University men's basketball assistant coach, at the Junior European Championships.

[4] Seeing his potential, Ton persuaded Parkhouski to first attend a junior college in the United States before enrolling at a major university to progress in basketball and to simultaneously learn English.

Under the guidance of head coach Brad Greenberg he developed into a National Basketball Association (NBA) center prospect following his 2009–10 senior season[1][6][7] but was ultimately never drafted.

Parakhouski spent his first two seasons of his NCAA eligibility at College of Southern Idaho, where in 63 games played he averaged 10.1 points and 6.4 rebounds on 60.1% shooting.

[9] He led Radford to win the Big South Conference tournament by scoring 26 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in the championship game.

[citation needed] Parakhouski did not get selected in the 2010 NBA draft; however, he played for the Boston Celtics in the 2010 Orlando Pro Summer League.

[13] In 2014–15 season, Nizhny Novgorod ended the competition in the VTB United League after being eliminated by CSKA Moscow with 3–0 in the semifinal series.

[14] On March 27, 2017, Parakhouski recorded a double-double with a career-high 30 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 15-of-17 from the field, in a 95–83 win over Avtodor Saratov.