Tony Parker says coaching the senior French national team and eventually reaching the NBA are his long-term goals as he takes his first steps in his coaching career.
French basketball legend Tony Parker is officially starting his coaching career, with his France U17 national team preparing for the World Cup in Turkiye.
Tony Parker
Tony Parker
Position: PG
Age: 44
Height: 188 cm
Weight: 84 kg
Birth place: Bruges, Belgium
For Parker, this first experience on the bench could be the beginning of a much bigger coaching journey. The former San Antonio Spurs star does not hide that coaching the senior French national team is one of his long-term ambitions.
"Everyone dreams of being the coach of the French national team, and it’s clear that it will be a goal," Parker said while speaking to the French press via BeBasket.
"But for now, Les Bleus are in very good hands with Freddy Fauthoux. He is a very good coach; he did some very nice things again this year with JL Bourg, which won the EuroCup."
"I’m not in a rush at all, but in the future, of course, coaching the senior France national team is a goal. You know my love for this team; it would be an honor. But first, there are steps. Right now, it’s the U17s, and that’s my priority, my only goal: trying to achieve a great result at the end of the competition."
Credit Getty Images via AFP/Scanpix
Parker also admitted that coaching in the NBA is the ultimate target he's set for later in his career.
"Yes, in the long term, it’s a goal, along with the EuroLeague and the arrival of NBA Europe," Parker said. "It’s exciting. But for now, I’m really not in a rush. I’m fully focused on the U17s. We have an intense month ahead to try to bring home a medal."
Parker sees the upcoming U17 World Cup as an important first step in his new path.
"It will be a key moment in my coaching career. I think taking the U17 team was the best decision I could have made," Parker said. "I also completed my DES coaching diploma, which lasted the whole year, and I learned a lot of things. It was very interesting."
At the same time, Parker wants his move into coaching to help shine more light on French coaches.
Credit AP Photo/Eric Gay - Scanpix
While France has become one of the biggest producers of basketball talent in the world, Parker believes the country’s coaches still do not receive enough opportunities at the highest level.
"I really want to contribute in my own small way to coaching in France, and it’s a shame we don’t have more coaches," Parker said. "We have more than 20 French players in the NBA, 40 in the EuroLeague, but we struggle to get opportunities for coaches.
"I’d like to shine a light on our diploma and French coaching development. We get extremely positive feedback on the players we produce, we’ve just experienced two Olympic finals, but Vincent Collet still can’t get a job in the NBA… That contrast is strange, but one day we’ll see a French coach in the NBA," he added.
According to BasketNews’ Donatas Urbonas, Parker is expected to make his professional coaching debut next season, with the four-time NBA champion set to become ASVEL Villeurbanne’s head coach for the 2026–27 campaign.
According to BasketNews sources, Parker is projected to earn around €1.2 million annually, a figure that would likely make it the richest coaching contract in French basketball history.
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