Parker & Diaw: Where negotiating with myself happens

"I will play in France for the minimum salary. I will earn 1500 euros a month (around $2000). I pay my insurance with my own money". Tony Parker to RMC Sport.

"The choice of the heart prevailed over greed". Boris Diaw to the JSA Bordueaux website.

Tony Parker and Boris Diaw are back home. Both French stars have returned to their country during the lockout. That will help them to stay fit, competitive and to fight homesickness. Any other reasons? Maybe...

Boris Diaw, a man in black (Source: JSA Bordeaux)

Both players will play in their new teams for the minimum salary, also paying their insurance policy with their own money. Parker will, at least, play for one legit contender for some European and national titles, but Diaw will play in the ProB, the second French division. If you've never heard anything from rival teams like La Portel, Evreux, St. Vallier or Fos Ouest, don't worry. Most basketball fans outside France haven't either.

Diaw chose Bordeaux for a simple reason: he's also the president of the team. Just like that. Ironically, Diaw never played for his club until now. His arrival to JSA Bordeaux (JSA, by the way, stands for Jeunes de Saint-Augustin, "Saint-Augustin Young People") has had an important media impact in France around a relatively nationalwide unknown team. 

Probably nobody outside hardcore French basketball fans would have cared about last weekend game between Bourdeaux and Denain. But now "everybody" knows that Diaw posted 16 points and 7 rebounds from the bench, leading his team to a close win, 79-78. Nobody cared than a former James Madison University forward, Juwann James, now playing for Denain, was the real top scorer of the game with 21 points.

Diaw's impact on the court is not lasting longer for now. Bobcats player, "by agreement with the club", has decided to take a few days off, according to the JSA Bordeaux webpage. Probably, the best he could bring to the team is already done...

Tony Parker has the whole wide... ASVEL ball in his hands (Source: ASVEL Basket)

Tony Parker moving to one of the most important French teams, 17-time league champion (last one in 2008), shouldn't be that surprising. Despite the All-Star guard never played there before moving to the NBA, same as Diaw, Parker arrives to Villeurbanne (a suburb of Lyon) not only as arguably the biggest star ever in French basketball, but also as the vice-president of the team.

His head coach in ASVEL will be Vincent Collet, also in charge of the French national team. That's not a coincidence at all. The good relationship with Parker has helped Collet to keep both jobs, despite being unable to qualify for the league playoffs a couple of seasons ago, and not matching the expectations created with the national squad until last summer (silver medal in the Eurobasket). Having Collet in his two French teams helps Parker not to worry about having issues with his coach.

Parker and Diaw will likely leave the team before the final days of the season, when ASVEL and Bourdeaux will have to fight for their ultimate goals. Winning every game until January won't secure them any title shot. But probably that's not the idea. The "locked out" NBA stars are not coming to Europe to win titles, but to help their teams to become more popular (yes, Besiktas, I'm looking at you)

Especially when, after the game, they go straight from the locker room to the boardroom.