He was drafted 28th by the Spurs. This has been a sore spot for Jazz fans, who know Utah chose Raul Lopez from Spain at No. 24, when it could have been Parker.
At the time, the Jazz were spending at an unprecedented rate. Karl Malone was making $17 million, John Stockton $7 million and Greg Ostertag $6.9 million. (Yes, Ostertag made nearly as much as Stockton.) Andrei Kirilenko was on his way to Utah that offseason.
The Jazz already had 13 players under contract when they selected Lopez, who still had a year left on his European contract, while Parker's was up. Experts were split on who was the better player. By taking Lopez, the Jazz avoided paying his salary that year and kept him in the wings for Stockton's retirement.