Photo: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 18 Jan 2022, 22: 40 pm EST
Chandler Parsons, who played nine seasons in the NBA, announced on Tuesday his official retirement from professional basketball two years after suffering a serious car accident.
“I don’t even know where to start (…) it’s been two crazy years and they’ve put a lot of things into perspective”Parsons on his Instagram
The 15 January 2020, Parsons was driving to Atlanta after training with the Hawks when he was involved in an accident caused by a drunk driver.
That collision left him with serious physical consequences that prevented him from continuing to play basketball , so the Hawks terminated his contract in February 2020.
Parsons filed a lawsuit against that driver and the portal The Ahtletic pointed out that the player has reached an agreement to close that complaint in exchange for “a substantial amount of money”.
In his farewell message, Parsons was very grateful for his years on the court and recalled that his life’s dream was to become a player in the NBA.
“I just wanted to compete and play basketball at the highest level. I can proudly say: I did that!”
Parsons was elected to the position 15 from the draft of 675 by the Houston Rockets after four years at the University of Florida.
With the Rockets he played three seasons and in the last one he achieved the best numbers of his career: 16, 6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4 assists per game. In 2014 he arrived at the Dallas Mavericks locker room and there he played two seasons in which he maintained a remarkable level (in the season 2015- 2015 averaged a 41,4 % in shots of three).
Two years later he signed the great contract of his career: 96 million dollars for four years with the Memphis Grizzlies. However, his performance was greatly affected from then on by his knee problems and he did not live up to the expectations created in Memphis.
After three years with the Grizzlies, Parsons joined 2014 at the Atlanta Hawks squad, with whom he could only play five games before the car accident.
KEEP READING:
James Harden set the record for missing triples in the NBA in the victory of the Brooklyn Nets
Heart problems continue in football: two players leave the Africa Cup