William Anthony Parker Jr. (born 17 May 1982)[1] is a French-American former professional basketball player and majority owner of LDLC ASVEL of the LNB Élite and the EuroLeague.

[13][14] His father, Tony Parker Sr., an African American, played basketball at Loyola University Chicago as well as professionally in the Netherlands, in Belgium and in France.

[14] His maternal grandmother, Jetty Baars-Wienese, is a Dutch national tennis champion (1956), whose brother and Tony's great-uncle Jan Wienese is an Olympic gold medalist in rowing.

[18] At first, Parker was more interested in soccer, but after watching the evolution of Michael Jordan into a global basketball superstar during summer trips to his father's native city of Chicago, he changed his mind.

[23] Parker decided to forgo the NCAA and to remain in France; he spent the next year with Paris Basket Racing in the French League before entering the 2001 NBA draft.

[23] After initially playing backup to Antonio Daniels,[23] Parker became a starter and made 77 regular-season appearances in his rookie season, averaging 9.2 points, 4.3 assists and 2.6 rebounds in 29.4 minutes per game.

[26] By the end of the season, the rookie led San Antonio in assists and steals, and was named to the All-Rookie First Team for 2001–02, becoming the first foreign-born guard to earn the honor.

[14] In 2002–03, Parker played in all 82 regular-season games as San Antonio's starting point guard[27] on a team that was largely revamped from previous years.

[14] In the post season, the Spurs, led by Tim Duncan, defeated the New Jersey Nets 4–2 in the finals, and Parker earned his first NBA championship ring.

[28] Despite the victory, Parker struggled with inconsistent play throughout the playoffs, and was often benched in favor of more experienced guards Steve Kerr and Speedy Claxton late in the games.

The Spurs had attempted and failed to acquire New Jersey Nets' Jason Kidd, but Parker told coach Popovich that he wanted to be San Antonio's starting point guard.

[32] On 14 February 2007, after delivering consistent numbers in the first half of the 2006–07 season, Parker was selected to play in the 2007 NBA All-Star Game as a reserve guard.

[34] In the Western Conference Semifinals, the Spurs met the Phoenix Suns led by two-time and reigning NBA MVP Steve Nash.

[36] In this series, Parker consistently outplayed his Cavaliers counterparts Daniel Gibson and All-Defensive Team member Larry Hughes and scored a series-high 24.5 points, accompanied by a high field goal percentage of 56.8% and of 57.1% from three-point range.

For the third time in four years, San Antonio prevailed over Phoenix; Parker had an outstanding first-round series, averaging nearly 30 points and 7 assists a game.

[46] With the Spurs looking to provide a more solid supporting cast in the 2009–10 season, they acquired Richard Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Antonio McDyess, DeJuan Blair, and Keith Bogans.

On 4 February 2012, Parker became the all-time assist leader of the franchise with 4,477, surpassing Avery Johnson, adding 42 points in a victory against Oklahoma City Thunder.

In the 2012 NBA Playoffs, Parker averaged 20.1 points and 6.8 assists as the Spurs swept through the first two rounds, defeating the Utah Jazz and the Los Angeles Clippers.

[66] He made his debut as a Hornets player on 17 October 2018, recording 8 points on 4/8 shooting, 7 assists, and 3 rebounds while coming off of the bench in 19 minutes of action in a 113–112 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks.

He was elected the Most Valuable Player of the 2000 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship, when France captured the gold medal, as he averaged 14.4 points and 2.5 assists per game.

[79][80] On 12 July 2024, the French Federation of Basketball officially retired Parker's national team jersey number 9, ahead of a friendly game against Serbia at the LDLC Arena in Lyon.

[81] Standing at 6 feet 2 inches tall (1.88 m) and weighing 185 pounds (84 kg), Parker played at the point guard position and established himself as a potent offensive player.

In the initial part of his NBA career, Parker was still considered an erratic shooter off the ball and during the 2005 off-season, Coach Popovich decided to work on that aspect of his play.

On 17 November 2010, Longoria filed for divorce in Los Angeles, citing "irreconcilable differences" after Parker reportedly engaged in an emotional affair with the wife of his Spurs teammate Brent Barry.

On his personal website, Parker states: "I already knew Make-A-Wish as it is very famous around the world and I have previously taken part in the granting of wishes by meeting children and their families.

The album features collaborations with various artists including Booba, Don Choa, Eloquence, Eddie B, Jamie Foxx, K-Reen, Rickwel and Soprano.

He acquired this interest as part of a larger transaction in which OL Groupe, the parent company of prominent French football club Olympique Lyonnais, bought an 89.5% stake in the NWSL team.

Parker was injured on 14 June 2012 at the W.I.P nightclub in the SoHo district of New York City when a brawl broke out between entertainers Chris Brown and Drake.

[120] Parker risked missing the 2012 Summer Olympics after a piece of glass thrown in the fight deeply penetrated his eye, requiring surgery to remove.

He also played himself in the short film The Angels (2011), directed by Stéphane Marelli;[126] and in a cameo appearance in season 4, episode 2 of the Netflix series Call My Agent (2020).