Bobby Ray Barbosa Parks Jr. (born February 19, 1993) is a Filipino-American professional basketball player who last played for Nagoya Diamond Dolphins of the Japanese B.League. A 6'4" guard, he played college basketball for the NU Bulldogs for three years before declaring for the NBA draft in 2015 where he went undrafted.[1]
Early life
Parks was born in Parañaque, Metro Manila to Bobby Parks Sr. and Marifer Celine Barbosa. His father was playing basketball in the Philippines.[2] Parks Sr. had been drafted 58th overall in the third round of the 1984 NBA draft, and went on to become a seven-time Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Best Import awardee and Hall of Famer. Parks Sr. and Barbosa separated. Barbosa moved to Los Angeles in 2003, while Parks Sr. left for Memphis, Tennessee, in 2005. Parks and his younger sister, Celine, remained in the Philippines until 2006, when his sister went to live with their mother, while he went to live with his father and his stepfamily, who were also Filipino.[2]
After moving to Memphis, Parks started playing organized basketball at the age of 13. As a freshman and sophomore, he attended St. George's Independent School in Collierville, Tennessee, where he was named Tennessee's Division II-A Mr. Basketball as the state's private school player of the year in 2009.[2][3]
Parks transferred to Melrose High School for the 2009–10 season and helped his team win a class AAA state championship. In November 2010, he committed to Georgia Tech as the No. 31-ranked shooting guard in the class of 2011, but later decommitted and followed his father back to the Philippines.[4]
In September 2010, Parks enrolled in information technology at National University in Manila with the hopes of playing for the NU Bulldogs in 2011.[5] Since Parks came from a foreign high school, he had to sit out one year before the 2011 season, which prevented him from winning Rookie of the Year as UAAP rules only allow for true freshmen to win the award.[6] Needless to say, he still qualified for the MVP award, which he eventually won during his first University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) season with the Bulldogs, as Parks averaged 20.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.1 steals per game and was named the Most Valuable Player of seasons 74 and 75.[2]
Parks went undrafted, but received an invitation from the Dallas Mavericks to play for their Summer League team.[9][10] In six games for Dallas, he averaged 3.0 points and 1.7 rebounds per game,[11] becoming the first Filipino-born player to play in the Summer League.[2]
Parks made his debut with the Legends on November 23, 2015, against the Austin Spurs. He went scoreless in 10 minutes of play and went 0-of-2 from the field.[15] On December 13, 2015, he scored his first basket for the Legends. Parks' putback layup with 14.5 seconds remaining gave him his first-ever basket in the D-League. He also finished with one assist and three rebounds in six minutes of action against the Sioux Falls Skyforce.[16] On April 1, 2016, he scored a career-high 16 points against the Oklahoma City Blue.[17] In 2015–16, Parks averaged 4.6 points and 1.9 rebounds in 32 games.[18]
After the Legends did not retain Parks for the 2016–17 season, he entered the 2016 NBA Development League Draft, where he was selected in the sixth round by the Westchester Knicks.[19] He was unsuccessful in gaining an opening-night roster spot with Westchester, as the team waived him on November 9, 2016.[20][21]
ASEAN Basketball League
On November 18, 2016, Parks officially joined Alab Pilipinas of the ASEAN Basketball League (ABL).[22] On December 11, 2016, he scored a career-high 41 points and 14 rebounds against the Kaohsiung Truth.[23] After his first season with Alab Pilipinas, he was named the local MVP of the season.[24]
MPBL
After his stint in the ABL, Parks joined the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL), an amateur regional league in the Philippines which imposes a cap on imports, including Filipinos with foreign heritage like himself. He was signed in by Mandaluyong El Tigre in May 2018.[25][26]
Parks contract with TNT expired after the 2020 season. In March 2021, Parks announced that he would not feature in the PBA for the 2021 season citing personal reasons to tend to his family.[29] However, the move risked a fallout between Parks and TNT with team owner and PLDT chairman Manny V. Pangilinan to express his doubts on Parks' reason for sitting out on the 2021 season through social media, posting a photo of him having a vacation in La Union.[30] While Parks is a free agent, TNT still hold the signing rights to him; he would only be able to play for another PBA team if TNT releases him without pre-conditions or trade him.[31]
TNT and the PBA allowed Parks to play in Japan in July 2021, but TNT would have exclusive rights to re-sign him if he decides to return to the PBA within five years.[32][33]
B. League
Nagoya Diamond Dolphins
On August 24, 2021, Parks signed with the Nagoya Diamond Dolphins of Japan's B. League as the team's Asian import.[34] On May 28, 2022, Parks signed a one-year contract extension with the team.[35] On June 9, 2023, he signed another contract extension with the team.[36]
National team career
In 2015, Parks played for Gilas Cadets at the SEABA championships and the Southeast Asian Games.[37]
Parks was part of the team that represented the Philippines in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games.[39] They won the gold medal after beating Indonesia 94–55, winning his 3rd SEA Games Gold medal in the process.[40]
Five years later, Parks returned to the national team for the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup.[41] The team failed to make the quarterfinals of that tournament.[42]
Parks was included in the 21-man pool for the 2023 FIBA World Cup.[43] However, he was not included in the 12-man final roster.[44]
In July 2024, Bobby Ray Parks Jr. is currently engaged to internet personality and content creator Zeinab Harake after the latter agreed to his marriage proposal.[49] Harake and Parks announced their engagement in a joint Instagram post on Sunday, July 7, which showed them standing at an undisclosed location where the phrase “Marry me” was spelled out, while what seemed like a nightscape of Metro Manila.[50]
