Was Jabari Parker Forced to Leave the NBA? Exploring Former Celtics Star’s Abrupt Exit

In June 2022, the Boston Celtics were in the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors. Before the playoffs, they had waived former No.2 overall draft pick, Jabari Parker, in January. Now the Celtics are in the NBA Finals again and Parker is nowhere in the league. He went from a decorated high school athlete to a lottery pick and a draft bust. He’s in his late prime playing in the EuroLeague, unlike when he was in the NBA. But it’s probably not the trajectory he imagined himself to be in. Hence, his emotional breakdown after his first overseas season moved more than a few cynics.

The 29-year-old could’ve maybe been on the championship path if his Celtics tenure wasn’t cut short abruptly. He’s missed a European championship too. The what-ifs, though, linger.

Jabari Parker’s downward track

When a teen Jabari Parker opted to go to Simeon Career Academy – a school with a pedigree like Derrick Rose, Nick Anderson, Ben Wilson, and Bobby Simmons – he was being looked at as the future top draft prospect. He was the first freshman in the school’s history to start on the varsity team. In the first season alone, where he was averaging 19.3 PPG, he was fielding D1 offers. He remained a nationally ranked top 5 player for most of his high school and collected numerous individual accolades.

At Duke University, he got to wear #1, the jersey only Kyrie Irving wore before for the Blue Devils. By then, he had won gold medals for Team USA at the U17 and U16 FIBA championships. With a stacked college career behind him, he declared to the 2014 NBA draft. With much media fanfare and a Jordan Brand deal in the bag, the Milwaukee Bucks selected him no. 2 overall right before Giannis Antetokounmpo. Then the injuries came.

Critical season-ending injuries affected his productivity right from his rookie season. He was not able to contribute to the team. When his contract came up for discussion, the Bucks retracted their offer and let the Chicago Bulls sign him in 2018. Once again, it wasn’t very productive and he bounced around to Washington, Atlanta, Sacramento, and finally Boston.

The Celtics initially waived him in 2021 but re-signed him three days later. In January 2022, they waived him again. There was speculation about his return to Milwaukee when he did a workout with the Bucks in the 2023 NBA Summer League. That didn’t pan out and he signed a one-year deal with FC Barcelona. In his first season, he averaged 10.6 points in 38 games. He also posterized a few European players.

While the NBA to overseas league is not an uncommon path – think John Salley and Dwight Howard – you have to think about what made a draft bust decide to leave mid-season 10 years into an NBA career with very little playtime to show for himself. Circumstances drove his decision.

Jabari Parker called the league out

FC Barcelona lost to Real Madrid in the Spanish League semifinal, ending Parker’s first championship dream. When a reporter asked him how he felt about his first overseas season, he broke down in tears. The reporter gave him a moment to compose himself but the interview never actually went ahead. This is a starkly different mood from September 2023, a month after he moved to Europe. He called out the NBA for being unable to retain players in an interview with a European media outlet.

“I just want to be a part of something legitimate. I want to be a part of ‘every game matters’. Sadly, the NBA is a business, and there are 10-12 teams that try to win every game, and the other half try to get a draft pick. Where does that leave good players? You either have to be super good or bad, to lose games. It’s no excuse to see DeMarcus Cousins, Dwight Howard, or John Wall, guys who are potentially going into the Hall of Fame… seeing those guys not have a job? We are seeing the league getting watered down, unfortunately.”

It is harsh but true. His career was different from DH12 and fans know he has a season or two left in him. But he played the last season in Taiwan and now is in Puerto Rico. Contrary to what people think, the lack of NBA offers doesn’t always force players overseas. Player development and encouragement culture is entirely different outside the NBA. Why do you think Howard keeps inviting other NBA veterans overseas?

The appreciation NBA pros get overseas is a big draw for them. Parker stated he was not mentally prepared to convince NBA teams to take a chance on him when overseas offers were available. Although it does seem that with the overdue acknowledgment, some bitterness lingers in Parker, which resurfaced. Imagine the what-could’ve-been, fans believe they lost an unnoticed All-Star to Europe.