Report: Parker denies he’ll play for French team he co-owns

UPDATE 8:58 am: Well, that didn’t take long.

Not long after the report (seen below) that Tony Parker would play for the French team he co-owns was leaked Parker himself shot that report down, via BasketEurope and Hoopshype:

“This is not true, I did not sign anything. Nothing is done. I did not commit to ASVEL during the lockout. There is insurance to pay, the case has stalled because I am playing with the National Team”

Note that he does not say it will not happen, just that there are insurance and other issues to work out. So this is not dead in the water, but it’s not all lined up right now.

8:14 am: In the NBA, there are rules against players owning a part of the team. France has no such qualms. (They don’t have qualms about a lot of things that disturb us here, but that’s another topic for another day.)

This is good news for Tony Parker. He is co-owner of a team in the top league in France and he has nothing to do during the lockout. So…

We bring you this report from Le Progres, a French Web site, with a translation via HoopsHype:

According to our informants, Tony Parker, starting point guard of the Spurs, will be wearing ASVEL’s jersey during the NBA lockout. This will come true by mid-October.

The club, in a suburb of Lyon, would not only get better on the court but the arenas will fill up and the owners would make a lot more money… hey, now I get why he is going.

We’ll see if this really happens, I’d take it with a grain of salt. But there is some logic to it.