Responding to a published report claiming that NBA execs believe Jabari Parker won’t enter this summer’s draft, Sonny Parker said his son hasn’t begun to seriously consider his future beyond this year at Duke University. Per WEEI:
“My wife, my son and I haven’t talked about it,” Jabari’s father, Sonny Parker, who played for the Warriors from 1976-82, said. “We honestly don’t know. After the season, we’ll talk about it. That’s what I told Coach K [Mike Krzyzewski] when he was recruiting Jabari, and that’s what I tell him now.
“We just want Jabari to enjoy the season. People can speculate all they want, but it’s not a discussion. Right now, he’s dealing with being a student-athlete at Duke. He’s not entertaining that.”
“We’re not thinking about that right now, and we don’t want him thinking about it,” added Sonny Parker. “He doesn’t want it to be a distraction for his teammates. I don’t know where they’re getting their information, because we really don’t know what he’s going to do. He just wants to have fun, concentrate on this season and enjoy school.”
“Everybody’s got him one-and-done,” said Sonny Parker, who knows many mock drafts have his son listed as high as the No. 1 overall choice. “We know the projections. We know what people are saying. Right now, he just wants to win a championship. Everybody’s saying he’s coming out, but he’ll let us know. That will come from him.”
Meanwhile, Parker is averaging 19.1 points (48.6 FG%, 40.9 3P%, 74.5 FT%), 7.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 blocks and 0.9 steals in 29.1 minutes per game for the Blue Devils (14-4). After his scoring average dipped to 10.8 points on just 32.2 percent shooting over a five-game stretch that included losses to Notre Dame and Clemson earlier this month, Parker bounced back with 23 points on 14 shots against N.C. State over the weekend.
