Parker leaves San Antonio with emotion, but no regrets

The 2018-19 NBA schedule has not yet been released. That usually happens sometime in August.

When it does, soon-to-be former Spurs point guard Tony Parker has one date he will be sure to circle.

And he will be sure to bring Kleenex.

Parker, indeed, will be back in the AT&T Center someday. And he will do so wearing the teal-and-white of the Charlotte Hornets.

“I think it’s going to be very, very emotional,” Parker told the Express-News on Saturday from France, a day after agreeing to a two-year, $10 million contract to become a Hornet.

“I won’t be surprised if there are tears in my eyes.”

For Parker, those tears are still somewhere in the future.

He is departing his only American basketball home, the place he spent 17 seasons and won four championships and became a part of the fabric of the city.

He doesn’t want to leave. But he believes he has to go if he is to reach his goal to complete 20 NBA seasons.

“The Spurs will always be home,” Parker said. “San Antonio will always be a big part of my life. At the end, I just felt like the Hornets wanted me more.”

Spurs general manager R.C. Buford would not dispute this characterization.

The Spurs were interested in bringing Parker back in a mentorship role. They offered him a one-year deal, but no assurances of steady playing time.

It wasn’t a deal Parker was ready to make at age 36.

“The Spurs made an offer, but it was only for one year, and the role was kind of shaky,” Parker said. “I wanted to have a real challenge. I don’t want to become a coach before I’m really a coach.”

In Charlotte, Parker will back up All-Star point guard Kemba Walker. He will bridge the gap between Walker and DeVonte Graham, a 23-year-old the Hornets love but are not quite ready to entrust with regular rotation minutes.

In Charlotte, Parker sees a place for himself that dried up on him San Antonio.

That doesn’t mean the choice to leave was easy. Parker anguished over his options.

“Back and forth, back and forth,” Parker said. “A lot of ups and downs to make that decision.”

In the end, Parker kept coming back to one truth: He wasn’t prepared to stop being a meaningful NBA player.

On Friday afternoon, Parker called Gregg Popovich — the only NBA coach he’d had since joining the Spurs in 2001 — and broke the news.

Parker leaves with emotion. But he does not leave with regrets or hard feelings.

He realizes the good fortune that dropped on him in San Antonio as a teenage rookie, next to one of the game’s all-time greats in Tim Duncan and with another future Hall of Famer in Manu Ginobili arriving a year later.

Together, those three won more games than any trio in NBA history. They transformed San Antonio into Titletown.

“I never took for granted that what we did was hard,” Parker said. “Me, Manu and Tim took less money in free agency every time. It’s not easy to have a dynasty. I think some people maybe took it for granted. I don’t think what we did will ever happen again.”

This much is certain. Training camp is going to be strange, just as it was in 2016 when Duncan failed to show up for the first time in 19 years.

“Really strange,” said Spurs assistant coach Will Hardy, who is guiding the summer league club in Las Vegas. “Anybody who has been a part of the Spurs or who has been a Spurs fan for the last 17 years, Tony has been a huge part of their experience.”

Dejounte Murray, the Spurs’ point guard of both the present and future, was on hand in Las Vegas to watch the summer leaguers. He, too, said Parker’s absence will be felt this fall.

“He was a mentor to me,” said Murray, 21. “He taught me a lot. Now it’s just up to me to work hard and take his advice to heart.”

To illustrate his point. Murray talked about his most enduring memory of his two years playing with Parker.

It was May 4, 2017, the night Parker blew his quadriceps tendon in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against Houston.

Murray sat with Parker in the AT&T Center locker room afterward until they were the only two souls remaining.

Parker’s playoffs were over, but he wanted to make sure his rookie understudy was prepared.

“We stayed there for like an hour talking about everything,” Murray said. “He told me how he was going to teach me no matter what and give me advice no matter what.”

Parker insists he is not leaving town forever. His wife and two kids will continue to live in San Antonio as he works in Charlotte.

He does not plan on selling his house here.

“After I retire, I’m coming back to San Antonio to hang out with Timmy,” Parker said with a laugh.

In fact, the two Spurs champions have already gotten a head start on that.

Two weeks ago, Duncan invited Parker to his ranch outside of San Antonio for a hang.

As they talked, Parker acknowledged he might not be able to follow in Duncan’s footsteps and finish his career with the Spurs.

Duncan’s guidance would ultimately help focus Parker on the decision to come.

“He told me I had to do what’s best,” Parker said. “I had to follow my heart.”

Friday, Parker followed his heart to a place he never thought it would lead.

He will be back in San Antonio someday. And when he does, he will come bearing Kleenex.