Jabari Parker
Jabari Ali Parker is an American professional basketball player for Partizan Mozzart Bet of the Serbian League, the ABA League and the EuroLeague. He was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the second overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, after one season of playing for Duke University. He played four seasons for the Bucks before spending time with 5 different teams over the course of four more NBA seasons.
Parker was a standout high school athlete, helping his team win four straight Illinois state championships for Simeon Career Academy, and was named the National High School Player of the Year by Gatorade and McDonald's. In his freshman year for the 2013–14 Duke Blue Devils, he was named a consensus first-team All-American, the USBWA National Freshman of the Year, and the runner-up for the John R. Wooden Award.
Among the most accomplished high school basketball players in American history, Parker has been often referred to as a bust due to his lack of success in the NBA, which is in large part due to the numerous injuries he sustained throughout his time in the league. In the summer of 2023 and following a year away from professional basketball, he signed for FC Barcelona and quickly became an important part of their rotation and championship aspirations. His successful transition from the NBA marked a rebirth in his career.
Early life
Parker was born and raised in Chicago's South Shore community area. Parker's father, Sonny, has served hundreds of Chicago metropolitan area children as youth foundation director since 1990. Parker discovered basketball in one of his father's many leagues, although his father has never coached one of his teams. He honed his basketball skills with his brother Christian on the basketball court at his local meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Hyde Park community area in order to avoid the hazards of urban playgrounds.Parker was successfully playing with older boys by the age of 7. Most frequently, he played with his older cousin, Jay Parker, who he has credited for pushing him to improve since both boys were in grade school. and he competed in middle school leagues as a fifth grader. Jabari made the eighth-grade team as a fourth-grader, but could not play until fifth grade due to the school district's insurance policy.
By the time he was in fifth grade, Parker was a guard with five Division I scholarship offers. In sixth grade, when he stood at, he visited Simeon for a day and scrimmaged with Derrick Rose. Parker attended Robert A. Black Magnet Elementary and made headlines when he made Simeon Career Academy his high school choice, just like Rose, Nick Anderson, Ben Wilson, Bobby Simmons and Deon Thomas before him. Though Parker has two older sisters who also attended Simeon, his choice was based on a goal of achieving the most championships. Parker told the Chicago Tribune, "That's the reason I picked Simeon, because I knew it was going to be possible to reach four state championships." During the summer after finishing middle school, he received a National Basketball Players Association Top 100 Camp invitation, which he accepted. By this time, he stood at.
High school career
Freshman year
Parker was the first freshman to start on the Simeon varsity team in school history. Over the course of the season, he contributed 19.3 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game, and 3.0 assists per game, while his team won the IHSA Class 4A state championship with a 25–9 record. By the end of the season, he had received numerous scholarship offers, including those from Illinois, Kansas, DePaul, Pittsburgh, Northwestern, Florida, Washington, BYU and Oregon State as well as significant interest from Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina. He earned the ESPN HS 2010 Freshman of the Year. He was a MaxPreps.com second team 2009-10 Boys Basketball Freshman All-American Team selection.Sophomore year
As a sophomore, Parker helped his team spend much of the season ranked nationally in the top five. That season, he averaged 15.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, while his team won the IHSA Class 4A state championship with a 30–2 record. He earned second team All-State recognition from the Chicago Tribune, while the Chicago Sun-Times listed him as a Class 4A All-State first-team selection with Ryan Boatright, Tracy Abrams, David Sobolewski and Frank Kaminsky. The 12-man Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Class 3A/4A boys' all-state first team included these five and Wayne Blackshear, Johnny Hill, Mike Shaw, Nnanna Egwu, Sam Thompson, Anthony Davis and Mycheal Henry. He earned the ESPN HS 2011 Sophomore of the year. He was a MaxPreps.com first team 2010-11 Boys Basketball Sophomore All-American Team selection.Junior year
During his junior year preseason, Parker participated in the July 2011 LeBron James Skill Academy, and he was one of a handful of juniors invited to the August 5–7, 2011 5th annual Nike Global Challenge, where he earned tournament MVP honors.During the season, Parker established the Simeon single-game scoring record with 40 points in 21 minutes of play to go along with 16 rebounds and 6 blocked shots against Perspectives High School. As a junior in high school, he received offers from Duke, Kansas, BYU, Kentucky, UNC, and others. On February 17, Parker and Simeon won the Public League championship by defeating Curie Metropolitan High School 53–49. Both the semifinals and finals were broadcast on ESPN3. Coaches Izzo, Krzyzewski, Matta, and Weber as well as Mayor Emanuel and cadres of their assistants were among those in attendance to see this March 6 IHSA sectional semifinal against Young won by Simeon 52–42 in which Parker led the way with 18 points and 6 rebounds. In the days prior to the state final four, Parker stated that although Coach Weber had been fired, he remained interested in Illinois and other in-state schools such as DePaul and Northwestern. Parker had 15 points in the March 17 championship game 50–48 victory over the Sterling Brown-led Proviso East High School, resulting in a 33–1 junior year record for Simeon. The state semifinals and the finals were broadcast live on ESPN3. For the season, Parker averaged 19.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 3.3 blocks and 1.4 steals per game or 20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 3.4 blocks and 1.5 steals per game, depending on the source, while shooting 55 percent from the field, 39 percent from 3-point range and 72 percent from the free-throw line. Following the season, he was featured in a May cover story in Sports Illustrated with the title "The Best High School Basketball Player since LeBron James Is... Jabari Parker but There's Something More Important to Him than Instant NBA Stardom: His Faith". The story presented his humility and noted that he is conflicted on his decision to serve as an LDS Church missionary. Parker announced that he anticipated trimming his potential schools to a list of five by the end of the summer so that he could plan official visits.
For his efforts during his junior year, Parker earned several accolades. The Chicago Sun-Times named him to the Class 4A All-State first team along with Jahlil Okafor, Keith Carter, Darius Paul and Fred VanVleet. He was also a first team All-State selection by the Associated Press along with VanVleet, Carter, Taylor, and Malcolm Hill. The Chicago Tribune named him first team All-State along with Carter, Aaron Simpson, Taylor, and VanVleet. He was named the 2012 Illinois boys' basketball Gatorade Player of the Year. He became the first non-senior honoree in the 32-year history of Illinois Mr. Basketball, which is awarded by the Chicago Tribune in conjunction with the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association. On April 12, he was announced as the winner of the national boys' basketball Gatorade Player of the Year, which was presented to him by ex-NBA player Alonzo Mourning, who greeted him at his school in a special assembly. Parker was the fourth junior to win the award. Parker finished second to Shabazz Muhammad in ESPN HS Mr. Basketball USA voting. They were the only two players to appear on every ballot. However, Parker was selected as the ESPN HS National Junior of the Year and the MaxPreps.com National Junior of the Year. He was selected as a first team ESPN HS boys' high school basketball All-American along with Kyle Anderson, Marcus Smart, Shabazz Muhammad and Nerlens Noel by ESPN HS. He was also a first team All-USA selection by USA Today with the same four players. SLAM Magazine selected him to its first team along with Anderson, Muhammad, Noel and Isaiah Austin.
Senior year
Parker entered the summer of 2012 as the consensus number one player in the country until he was sidelined with a foot injury, which caused him to miss some games during the 2012 FIBA Under-17 World Championship. Parker was one of ten USA Today preseason All-USA selections, and his team was ranked No. 1 preseason nationally by MaxPreps.com. On December 20, 2012, he chose to play for Duke.Over the course of his senior season, Parker and Simeon played in six showcase games that required travel outside of the region. Three of the showcase games were broadcast nationally on one of the ESPN networks.
Parker led Simeon to its fourth consecutive IHSA class 4A state championship with a 58–40 victory over Stevenson High School, matching Manual High School's IHSA record of four consecutive IHSA basketball championships. In the process, Parker, who scored 20 points and had 8 rebounds, became the second player in IHSA history to start for four consecutive state basketball champions. Simeon finished with a 30–3 record.
Several more accolades followed his senior year performance. USA Basketball selected Parker as a member of the 2013 USA Junior National Select Team for the April 20, 2013 Nike Hoop Summit at the Rose Garden. On February 12, Parker was recognized as a 2013 All-Public League first team selection by the Chicago Sun-Times. That same day, Parker was selected to play in the April 13 Jordan Brand Classic at the Barclays Center. On March 18, Parker earned the Morgan Wootten Male Player of the Year, which recognizes "the McDonald's All-American who demonstrates outstanding character, exhibits leadership and exemplifies the values of being a student-athlete in the classroom and the community". On March 21, Parker was named the Gatorade Illinois Boys Basketball Player of the Year, and on March 25, he repeated as Illinois Mr. Basketball. On April 9, he earned another National Player of the Year recognition, this time by MaxPreps.com. On April 17, he was a first team All-USA selection by USA Today, and on May 18, he was named a 2013 first-team Parade All-American.
During the McDonald's All-Star game played at the United Center in his hometown, Parker scored 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting and added 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, contributing to a 110-99 West victory. At the April 13 Jordan Brand Classic played at the Barclays Center, Parker was co-MVP along with Julius Randle. He had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists to help lead the West team to a 102-98 victory. At the April 20 Nike Hoop Summit held in Portland, Oregon, Parker had a team-high 22 points and 7 rebounds as the U.S. Junior National Select Team was defeated 112-98 by the World Select team.
Parker concluded his high school career as the fourth rated player in the class of 2013 according to Rivals, behind Wiggins, Randle, and Aaron Gordon.