Jabari Parker

BIOGRAPHY

Jabari Ali Parker was born March 15, 1995 in Chicago, Illinois. He is a power forward in the NBA.

Parker was born and raised in Chicago's South Shore community area. Parker discovered basketball in one of his father's many leagues, although his father has never coached one of his teams. He honed his basketball skills with his brother Christian on the basketball court at his local meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in the Hyde Park community area in order to avoid the hazards of urban playgrounds. By second grade his basketball skills were superior to those of the fifth-graders he played with, and he competed in middle school leagues as a fifth grader. Jabari made the eighth-grade team as a fourth-grader, but could not play until fifth grade due to the school district's insurance policy. In fifth grade, he had five Division I scholarship offers as a 6-foot (1.83 m) guard. In sixth grade, when he stood at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m), he visited Simeon for a day and scrimmaged with Derrick Rose. Parker attended Robert A. Black Magnet Elementary and made headlines when he made Simeon Career Academy his high school choice.

During the summer prior to matriculating at Duke, Parker participated in the Nike sponsored Chi-League, a 9-weekend 10-team Chicago summer pro-am league. During this time, Parker was projected by the press as a true freshman starter for the 2013–14 Blue Devils. Parker debuted for Duke on November 8 with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block against Davidson—becoming Krzyzewski's fifth freshman to debut with 20 points and was part of Duke's first game with four 20-point scorers. Parker received much recognition for his freshman year performance. He was unanimously selected to both the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association (ACSMA) All-ACC first team and the Coaches All-ACC Freshman Team. 

On June 26, Parker was selected no. 2 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks. Just prior to the draft, Parker signed a shoe endorsement deal with the Jordan Brand. On July 9, 2014, Parker signed with the Bucks and joined them for the 2014 NBA Summer League. On October 29, 2014, Parker made his NBA debut in the Bucks' season opener. 

On July 14, 2018, Parker signed a two-year, $40 million contract with the Chicago Bulls. He debuted with the Bulls on October 18 with 15 points and 5 rebounds off the bench. 

On February 6, 2019, Parker was traded to the Washington Wizards.

On July 11, 2019, Parker signed with the Atlanta Hawks. 

On February 6, 2020, Parker was traded to the Sacramento Kings. On March 25, 2021, he was waived by the Kings.

On April 16, 2021, Parker signed with the Boston Celtics.