Jabari Parker has been, together with Kevin Punterone of the last idols of the fans of the Palau Blugrana.
The former nº2 of the 2014 NBA Draft He landed at Barça in the summer of 2023 after having gone more than two years without playing professional basketball and a career in the best league in the world marked by continuous injuries.
With the Barcelona shirt He recovered (part of) his high level and, at times, remembered his best version, that of his first years in the NBA. Furthermore, he fit like a glove in Barcelona and on several occasions he expressed himself as a lover of his life in Barcelona. Everything fit together and seemed to go smoothly.
Everything, except the sports results. Parker’s two seasons at Barça were marked by sporting ‘failures’ – no titles to be won and eliminations too early in the Euroleague, Liga Endesa and Euroleague -, first under the orders of Roger Grimau and later with Joan Peñarroya on the bench.
Therefore, many were surprised by the American’s departure this past summer. There were many versions of Parker’s reasons for leaving, but one of them was thatHe didn’t quite fit in with Peñarroya and wanted to play under a more experienced and prestigious coach. and that’s why he signed for him Belgrade Partizan by Zeljko Obradovic.
But the surprise came a few days ago, when The legendary Serbian coach submitted his irrevocable resignation. After overcoming the initial confusion, Partizan began the search for a new coach, which ended, to the disbelief of many – especially Parker himself – with the signing, precisely, of a Joan Peññarroya who, at the beginning of November, was dismissed as Barça coach after a resounding defeat on the court by Bàsquet Girona (96-78).
Although the player himself was in charge of stating that his ‘reunion’ with Peñarroya did not pose any problem, the truth is that It seems that there is a ‘swell’ between the Chicago player and the Terrassa coach: in the debut of the Egarense coach on the Belgrade bench, which ended with a resounding defeat at home by 87-112, Parker was left without playing for a single minute. Symptomatic.
Asked about it at the press conference after the meeting, a crestfallen Peñarroya wanted to make light of the matter.
“Jabari Parker is a Partizan player. Today is a technical decision. My technical decision. But I have no personal problems with Jabari Parker. It is a technical decision and today I preferred other teammates. But if he is in the squad (roster) he can play”.
An explanation that did not seem to convince many of those present. And, surely, neither does Jabari Parker. We will see how the sporting situation of the ex-Azulgrana evolves, who left the Palau Blaugrana looking for a coach different from Peñarroya… and who has ended up finding one, again, in Belgrade.
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