Former Raptors fan fave Anthony Parker lands job as NBA GM

There was once a time when Anthony Parker would be raining three-pointers on the court for the Toronto Raptors, earning a reputation as one of the best shooters in team history in the mid-2000s.

But a decade and a half outside of his tenure in Toronto, Parker will be calling the shots for a team that the Raptors are all too familiar with.

As per a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Parker will be named the next general manager of the Orlando Magic, where he has previously served as a scout and executive for their G League affiliate in Lakeland, Florida.

Parker averaged 11.9 points, four rebounds and 2.6 assists in 235 games for the Raptors in his career, playing for the team from the 2006-07 season throughout 2008-09. While Toronto lost twice in the first round of the playoffs — once, actually, to the Magic — during his three seasons with the team, Parker was a key piece of the 2006-07 squad that won the team’s first Atlantic Division title in franchise history.

Per Wojnarowski, Parker will be replacing John Hammond, who is stepping into a senior advisory role.

It’s an interesting challenge ahead for the first-time GM, as he is set to inherit a roster with plenty of young talent but anything but success in recent seasons. The team has made the postseason just twice since 2012, with the franchise’s last postseason series victory happening in 2010.

A young core of 2022 first overall pick Paolo Banchero, 2023 first-rounders Anthony Black and Jett Howard, and 2021 first-rounders Jalen Suggs and Franz Wagner give the franchise plenty of hope moving forward, though it’s up to Parker and his staff to find a way to turn that potential into on-court performance, with the Magic winning just 34 games last season as they finished 13th in the Eastern Conference.

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