Charlotte Hornets: Parker’s latest achievement is unselfish

During Saturday night’s loss to Denver, Charlotte Hornets guard Tony Parker moved into 17th place on the NBA’s all-time assist list.

Tony Parker is a future NBA Hall of Famer, there’s no doubt about that. In his first season with the Charlotte Hornets, Parker has provided a winning and unselfish attitude, and that showed against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.

Yes, the Hornets didn’t win the game, but Parker continued to leave his mark on this league and climbed up a spot on the NBA’s all-time assist leaderboard. He is now 17th on the leaderboard, passing NBA Hall of Famer Bob Cousy.

It is yet another great accomplishment for Parker. He is now chasing Tim Hardaway, who sits in the 16th spot on the all-time assist leaderboard with 7,095 dimes, compared to Parker’s 6,958 assists.

Parker has been a major bright spot for the Charlotte Hornets all season long, providing the team with veteran leadership and, of course, his rock solid play on the court. He is averaging 9.2 points and 3.8 assists while coming off of the bench.

For his career, Parker is averaging 15.6 points and 5.6 assists. Along the way, he has picked up six All-Star selections and four NBA championships. Yeah, not bad, right?

He’s also been a closer for the Hornets this year, which isn’t a surprise at all, given how much winning Parker has had with the San Antonio Spurs prior to joining the Hornets. He’s actually been to the playoffs every season of his career, and we’ll see if he can keep that incredible streak going in Charlotte.

Parker didn’t have his best night against Denver on Saturday, going for just two points and three assists in the defeat, but he’s been consistent throughout the season for the Hornets, and that’s important. He will continue to play a big role for this club as they eye the playoffs.

Getting back to Parker and his assists, moving up to 17th is a very cool accomplishment. While he will likely never get into the top-five, let alone even sniff John Stockton‘s top spot, he’s always been a very good playmaker and he should be proud of that.

John Stockton has a total of 15,806 career assists, by the way. I don’t think that record will be broken any time soon.

The only active NBA players that are ahead of Parker in the assists department are LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and Chris Paul of the Houston Rockets. That’s very good company for the 18 year veteran.

Parker will look to keep dropping the dimes for the Charlotte Hornets when they take on the Phoenix Suns in Phoenix tonight at 8:00 ET.