Lakers News: Tony Parker Believes LA Hall Of Famer Stymied Parker’s International Success
Ahead of his induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame later this year, Spurs and French basketball legend Tony Parker cited one source for his lack of hardware playing for his country.
Laker and Spanish international legend Pau Gasol is joining Parker in this year's Hall of Fame class, but Parker mentioned that the big man hurt French championship chances more than a few times when both were in their primes.
"If Pau Gasol had not been born, we would have won more gold medals."
It's quite the statement as the French and Spanish have been dominant basketball powers in the past 20 seasons on the international stages.
Whether it be at the Olympics or any FIBA tournament, Parker with teammates such as Nic Batum and Boris Diaw battled it out against Gasol's Spain with his twin brother Marc, Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez among the many names that defined these matchups.
In the NBA, Gasol's best successes came with the purple and gold and matched up with Parker's Spurs twice in his Laker tenure.
The two international superstars split the rivalry with Gasol and Kobe Bryant defeating the Spurs in five games in 2008 en route to their first Finals together and the franchise's first since the messy divorce of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
In the later series coming in the first round of 2013, Parker and company swept aside Gasol and the Lakers after Bryant tore his Achilles and was never truly the same player ever again.
Through constant battles for both their countries and their NBA teams, Gasol and Parker equally found their way to basketball immortality with their performances that fans will remember for generations.
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