"Despite his fervent interest in playing for the French international team this summer in the Eurobasket tournament in Lithuania, Tony Parker told the French web site 20minutes.fr that he likely won't play for the team if there is an NBA lockout because of insurance claims.

"There is (a) 1 percent chance that I will play for France if there is indeed a lockout due to the insurance issues involved," Parker told the publication. (Hat tip Project Spurs.com)

Parker has said he was looking forward to playing for the French team for the first time in his professional career before leaving the country for trip back to France.

"Playing with the national team is always something I wanted to do," Parker said. "I've never been to an Olympics. In talking to Manu, I know it's a great experience."

The timing of the tournament wasn't a concern if the lockout extended or if it was settled and the Spurs training camp opened as usual in late September.

"I'll be done on Sept. 18. " Parker said. "So if we don't start on time it will give me more rest, but if we start on time I'll be ready to go anyway."

But at the time, Parker mentioned that insurance might be difficult to obtain for those players who are locked out.

"They say they are finding an agreement with all of the federations. Hopefully, they'll find something to let us play because obviously if they don't, it will be hard to take a risk." Parker said. "If there's no insurance I won't play because the Spurs are No. 1 on my list. But if I'm insured I'll definitely play with a national team.""