Parker honoured by ´Big 3´ tag

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker admits it is a struggle to fully comprehend his lofty position in the pantheon of NBA greats.

Along with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili, Parker has formed a ‘Big 3’ for the Spurs for over a decade, bringing NBA titles back to Texas in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014.

One of the NBA’s most storied rivalries between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers contained legendary trios on either side – Larry Bird, Robert Parish and Kevin McHale for the Celtics and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson and James Worthy for the Lakers – who combined for three NBA titles each as threesomes.

Those vintage Celtics and Lakers sides captured five NBA crowns in a row from 1984-1988 and Parker is honoured to be able to compare his own achievements, but is determined to add more silverware to his collection in 2015.

“It’s hard to realise to be compared to the Celtics trio with Bird or the Lakers trio with Magic,” Parker told Omnisport. “Growing up in France, I never thought I’d achieve something like that.

“I think I’ll realise more when I retire but obviously it’s an unbelievable accomplishment and I feel very lucky to be with those guys [Ginobili and Duncan] all those years, especially in professional sports this is very rare that you play 12, 13, 14 years with the same team-mates, same coach.

“Hopefully, we can get another championship, it would be a great thing.

“I feel very blessed and healthy and I feel we have another chance this year to win the championship.

“I think we have a great chance. There are four or five teams that can really win this championship and I think we are part of those five teams.”