Tony Parker Lists Players Traded by Spurs While Praising Franchise's Loyalty

Much is made about the San Antonio Spurs and how they "build around their guys." And for the most part, this is true.

Gregg Popovich and the Spurs front office do an excellent job of retaining star players, developing new ones and talking their veterans into taking less money in the name of buttressing the team with role players. If they want to keep you around, they will do so.

But like any other NBA franchise, San Antonio is not above moving its lesser pieces in the hopes of solving the championship puzzle. It's a cold part of the business, and Tony Parker appears to prefer viewing the team's past transactions through rose-blushed glasses.

Parker recently spoke on the subject of the Spurs' loyalty in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News' Buck Harvey (h/t ProBasketballTalk's Dan Feldman).

When asked if San Antonio should attempt to rebuild around a core of aging stars, Parker reeled off a number of former Spurs players who represent the franchise's commitment to retaining excellence.

"I can't talk for other teams, but the Spurs have always been very loyal to their guys," Parker said. "You see George Gervin, David Robinson, Sean Elliott."

Harvey astutely points out in his column that the Spurs traded both Gervin and Elliott.

"Parker might be unaware the Spurs traded two of them away, Gervin and Elliott," Harvey writes. "But neither happened in this era, and this is what Parker banks on."

Indeed, it's a slightly awkward example to give, but Parker isn't entirely wrong.

While San Antonio did trade Gervin and Elliott (and later reacquired Elliott), both men have held positions with the team after leaving the game. Gervin works as a community responsibility representative for the franchise, and Elliott has done analysis for local Spurs broadcasts.

This is a different brand of loyalty than the kind Parker will have to depend on in order to stay with San Antonio in the coming years. With Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili likely retiring in the next two seasons, the Spurs will have to decide whether they want to build around Parker or attempt to move the aging French point guard.

It's difficult to picture a scenario where Parker retires anywhere but with the Spurs. He's 32 years old, which is 25 in Spurs years, and his outside shooting through the first 15 games of the 2014-15 season is breaking NBA records (66.7 percent from behind the arc).

Popovich is in no hurry to part ways with that.

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