Tony Parker is a player who comes alive in the playoffs. In previous seasons, because of his aging, Parker has been able to put up too glamorous numbers during the regular season because of the lack of PT he is awarded.
We understand why though. Tim Duncan even has been experiencing the decline in his numbers this season as Gregg Popovich has made it a priority to keep his vets fresh come playoff time.
This year though, even with his diminished playing time, Tony Parker has been playing some incredible basketball.
Though Parker is playing a career low 26.9 minutes per game, he’s making the most of his opportunities. Tony Parker is averaging 13.0 points per game while dishing out 5 assists per game. The most impressive part? His accuracy from the field.
Tony Parker is shooting 55.9% from the field. He also has a 47.1% from behind the arc, but that’s not as impressive because of the lack of shots he has attempted from deep. For a second, though, let’s go back to his field goal percentage.
Not often do you see guards shooting such a high percentage. It got me to think what players have ever shot this well for an entire season. The list is small, to be subtle.
Tony Parker is on pace to shoot just over 764 shots on this season. The only guard EVER to shoot over 700 shots in a season while shooting above 55% from the field was John Stockton in the 1987-1988 NBA Season.
It’s quite shocking to see the 33 year-old Parker on a list with the Hall-of-Famer Stockton who was, by the way, 25/26 and just entering his prime at that point. It’s hard to tell whether or not Tony Parker will be able to sustain this incredible production for the entire season, but, for now, we can still marvel at the fact that TP is on pace to be apart of such a prestigious, be it small, list.
