SAN ANTONIO — Spurs fans who have wondered what happened to Tony Parker's retired jersey that looks over the court at the Frost Bank Center, fear not.
They just had to sew 'Hall of Fame' on there.
San Antonio's legendary point guard was in attendance for Sunday afternoon's game against the Pelicans to address the crowd at halftime and watch his number 9 jersey return to the rafters next to 13, 44, 00, 50, 32, 6, 12, 21, and 20.
Parker stepped onto the court and told the fans that as fun as it was to celebrate the achievement over the summer, it was even more special to do the same with them.
"I've been very nostalgic lately. It's nice to see those memories, and you by far, by far, are the best fans in the world," he said. "Thanks for the support. You all adopted me. San Antonio is home for me, and always will be home. So thank you very much."
All the fans in attendance got a free t-shirt to mark the occasion, with more merch available in the fan shop and photo opportunities around the arena.
Parker was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2023 class, alongside Pau Gasol, Becky Hammon, and Gregg Popovich.
Around the time of the ceremony this summer, Parker recalled that he didn't make a great impression on Pop in his first workout for him.
"I don't want him, he's a weenie," Pop deadpanned. "He's unaggressive, he doesn't like contact, he's 19, I don't want to see him. His agent at the time called RC and I and said, 'give him another shot, Pop you're missing out. It was a bad workout, I agree with you, but don't be so hard on him.' I said ok, he came back. The way I set it up was I brought in four thugs from San Antonio. They couldn't play but they were meaner than hell, and we did a post workout. So I put this point guard in the post, and we played round-robin defense in the post, he had to guard them all, and he kicked their ass, and he showed me that I was totally wrong."
Parker grew up here in San Antonio, winning four titles with a special group of people he remains close friends with today.
"To finish it off this year, for the third year in a row coming here, and going in with Pop, it just shows that we had a special group and we were built different," Parker said. "We really wanted to win, and we never let our ego be above the team, we were all about winning championships."
The game tipped off at 2:30 p.m. at the Frost Bank Center, and thanks to a huge win over the visiting Lakers on Friday, the home team no longer has the longest losing streak in franchise history hanging over their heads.
Popovich's new rookie Frenchman was a little bit harder to miss as a prospect. Parker and the other Spurs legends have been a sounding board for 7'4" Victor Wembanyama as he adjusts to the NBA, and one key adjustment seems to have this young group of guys righting the ship.
Pop started the season with Zach Collins starting at center, but now he's moved Collins to the bench and Wembanyama to the five. The spacing is better, and the defense has vastly improved with Wemby in the middle of it all.