The San Antonio Spurs are one of the most consistent and respected organizations across all sports. When you think about the team and the players over the years, we usually assume they’re hard-working, team-oriented, high-character, great guys.
But there was actually an incident that nearly destroyed the team, and it came from within their own locker room. How’s it going fellas, my name’s Andy and today we’re gonna take a look at scandal that’s been swept under the rug, and the main player involved was Tony Parker.
We all know how important Tony Parker has been for his entire career. Six-time All-Star, four-time All-NBA, 2007 Finals MVP, four championships, at one point he was the best player on the Spurs when Tim Duncan got older.
However, in 2010, near the beginning of the 2010-11 season, he was involved in a scandal that ended two different marriages.
For some context: Parker and actress Eva Longoria got married in 2007, and by 2010 they were still together… well until November. On November 17th of that ear, Eva Longoria filed for divorce, stating that she found out Parker was cheating on her. And the person he was having an affair with was Erin Barry, who was the wife of former teammate Brent Barry.
This was a pretty big deal.
First off, Parker and Longoria were really close friends with Brent Barry’s family. Barry even attended Parker’s wedding, and they would celebrate their birthdays together as well. All four of them — Parker, Longoria, and Erin and Brent Barry — talked all the time, and hung out together very frequently. That made this whole thing even more messed up.
Parker even said that quote “We’re like a family” when talking about the four.
After a bit, it was reported that Parker and Erin were sexting back and forth. Parker admitted to doing that, but he said there was nothing physical involved in the affair. Yeah, it might’ve not seemed that bad, but it became a huge deal within the organization.
Brent Barry was no longer on the team and already retired from the NBA by 2010, but he was still a very close with pretty much everyone on the Spurs. He was close with head coach Gregg Popovich, Duncan, the training and coaching staff, as well as other former teammates.
He still hung out frequently at the facility whenever he was in town.
The controversy between Erin and Parker became public, and a lot of Spurs players who knew them were pissed. A source stated that “The Spurs staff is very upset and Pop would trade him if he didn't just sign that big deal.” That made the whole situation very awkward.
Around that time, Parker recently signed a 4-year $50 million extension, a week before the scandal broke out, which literally saved him from getting traded. If Parker got traded, that might’ve been it for the Spurs. In 2010 Parker was their second best player, arguably the best player on that team, but he was a major factor in helping the team reach the finals in 2013 and 2014.
There’s also a real possibility that the Spurs would’ve never won their 2014 championship without Parker either.
Imagine if he never signed that extension on time and Pop really did trade him. Then the Spurs might’ve never pulled the trigger on the trade that sent George Hill to Indiana for Kawhi Leonard in 2011. And instead, they just kept George Hill as their new starting point guard, and Kawhi is no longer on the team. Obviously,
this would snowball into a ton of more changes, but you get the idea. If this scandal became public just one week earlier, then we might be seeing a totally different Spurs team. Thank god the timing was a little bit off.
Anyway, so the Spurs kept Parker and moved on from the situation. Unfortunately, Parker and Longoria would get divorced after just three years of marriage. Brent and Erin would also got divorced after 12 years of marriage.
According to Tami Roman, a TV personality who was on the show Basketball Wives, she claimed: “I would say at least 75 percent of the men in the NBA are not faithful to their wives, girlfriends, whatever. To be involved with another teammate's wife, that's just like hand's off! That really is disgusting.”
When describing Eva Longoria, she said, “Sometimes, you know, having your own career and your own thing can be somewhat intimidating to certain men. She's the type of woman that is very self-sufficient and was financially independent before she married Tony.”
According to another source, both Parker and Barry’s marriage were falling apart anyway, even before they starting texting each other. It was just the final nail in the coffin.
Either way, that pretty much sums it up. This story wasn’t very crazy, but I think the fact that it led to Parker possibly being traded made it kinda interesting. It’s amazing how Tony Parker is one of the greatest Spurs ever, yet Popovich was willing to trade him instantly just because of this scandal.
It says a lot about how much the organization values character and not having any drama in the locker room, even though Brent wasn’t even on the team when it happened. I mean, it wasn’t the first time Pop thought about trading Parker.
And still, it’s an interesting what-if scenario to think about. Trading Parker in 2010 would’ve definitely led to a chain of events that would drastically change the outlook of the team — probably not for the better either.
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