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,” he explained on his Instagram account.
On January 15, 2020, Parsons was driving in Atlanta after practice 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 Athletic portal said today 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 an NBA player.
“I just wanted to compete and play basketball at the highest level. I can proudly say: I did THAT!”, he pointed.
Parsons was selected 38th in the 2011 draft 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 came to the Dallas Mavericks locker room and there he played two seasons in which he maintained a remarkable level (in the 2015-2016 season he averaged 41.4% shooting from three).
Two years later, he signed the biggest contract of his career: $96 million over four years with the Memphis Grizzlies.
However, his performance was greatly affected from there by his knee problems and he did not live up to the expectations created in Memphis.
After three years with the Grizzlies, Parsons joined the Atlanta Hawks squad in 2019, with whom he was only able to play five games before suffering a car accident.