Jabari Parker gives emotional response about his first overseas season

Jabari Parker, who now plays for FC Barcelona after his NBA career ended, couldn’t put his time in Europe into words in a viral interview clip.

It’s clear that former Duke basketball star [autotag]Jabari Parker[/autotag] doesn’t take playing basketball for granted anymore.

The second overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft averaged 20.1 points per game in his third NBA season, but two ACL tears in the same knee meant he only started 43 more games for the rest of his career.

Two years after his last season, when he played 12 games for the Boston Celtics in 2021-22, Parker now plays with FC Barcelona over in Europe.

Over the weekend, basketball reporter Marc Mundet spoke to Parker in the locker room for a short interview. After two minutes of questions and answers, Mundet asked Parker what his first season of basketball overseas meant to him.

Parker scratched his chin for a moment, seemingly on the verge of an answer, before he cast his eyes down. The former Blue Devil spent close to a minute in emotional silence, blinking back tears and talking deep breaths, before Mundet said he’d ask him again later.

(The question gets asked at the 1:45 mark of the clip below)

Parker’s team got eliminated from the Liga Endesa semifinals by Real Madrid on Sunday, but not before the former Duke star dunked over a 7-footer en route to a 27-point game.