“I never thought a kid like me from where I started in France can have something like this or experience something like this.” Recently, Tony Parker explained the surreal feeling about the honor of being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023. The 18-year veteran has a resume stacked with accolades and battles throughout his NBA career. That induction also became sweeter for him, since that class also featured his brother’s favorite player.

“And then D-Wade! loved D-Wade. It was like one of my favorite players to watch. I’m like, I’m going to a class that, that’s a hell of a class, you know.” On the Knuckleheads Podcast, Tony Parker stated his elation for being inducted alongside players like Dwyane Wade. Both faced each other in the back-to-back NBA finals in 2013 and 2014. With the Heat winning the first one and the Spurs coming back with revenge to win the second finals. Because of losing the first finals, the 4x NBA champion’s brother used to tease him at home.

“D-Wade, we played twice in the NBA Finals, and people don’t know that, but he’s my little brother’s favorite player. So every time he would come to the house and be like, ‘D-wyane Waaaaade!’ Like all the time. And I’d be like, ‘Man, can you stop it, you’re my own brother.’”

During his induction ceremony, Tony Parker paid respect to the Heat legend and explained the precarious position of being trolled in his own household. The first finals required a seventh game to decide the winner, which went in the favor of the Miami Heat. Where The Flash averaged 19.6 points, 4.6 assists, and 4.0 rebounds and Tony Parker averaged 15.7 points, 6.4 assists, and 1.9 rebounds.

In the 2014 finals, the French superstar had superior stats with 18.0 points, 4.6 assists, and 0.8 steals per game on 47.9 FG%. Meanwhile, Wade’s average fell to 15.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists. But these battles had another layer, as the Spurs legend once shared the light on those encounters.

Tony Parker and the reason why he would never trash-talk the Heat legend

In 2023, the 6x All-Star did the first episode of ‘The Skweek Show’ by Tony Parker. The episode featured two of his best friends, French soccer legend Thierry Henry and French artist Matt Pokora. Alongside them were the three other 2023 Hall of Famers Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, and Pau Gasol. During that conversation, they spoke about the battles with the Heat, and that’s where the Spurs legend made a startling revelation about those games.

“You know why we didn’t talk trash? Cause we had a lot of respect for you, a lot of respect for LeBron. That’s why I never talked trash. I would respect you and have an appropriate fear. We always talked about that in the locker room. Having appropriate fear of our opponents and always respecting my teammates and our opponents.”

Because of his respect for the opponent’s skills, Tony Parker avoided trash-talking with D-Wade and LeBron James during the NBA Finals. That’s part of why, as the first-ever French player to enter the Naismith Hall of Fame, Parker made sure to give flowers to his fellow inducted members