Parker given green light to play in Olympics

Heading into the 2012 Olympics, the French national team was not coming in at full strength. Joakim Noah, Ian Mahinmi, Mickael Pietrus, and Rodrigue Beaubois decided not to play due to various reason but perhaps the biggest blow was the possibility of losing their floor leader – San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker.

TP suffered a scratch cornea when he found himself in the middle of a Chris Brown-Drake brawl in a New York City nightclub when a wayward piece of glass hit his eye.

The injury was enough to scare the Spurs where his playing status for France was in doubt.

However, as the Olympics near, Parker says he was been cleared to play by the Spurs’ medical staff and the injured eye is just fine. TP is well enough to play as soon as Saturday in a tuneup game versus England. Losing TP would have certainly spelled doom for the French squad and their medal hopes.

Regardless, this is a sigh of relief not only for Team France, but for the Spurs and their fans. Eye injuries are serious considering how delicate they can be.

Now let’s just hope he doesn’t find himself in near Drake or Chris Brown ever.