Venice's Parks is living a love affair with Italy

Playing his eighth season in Italy out of nine as a professional in Europe, Reyer's Jordan Parks now has a second home.

Looking at Jordan Parks' journey in Europe one thing stands out: there are a lot of stops in Italy. And the 29-year-old American is right in the middle of a love affair with Italia.

Parks is spending his second season with Umana Reyer Venice and the BKT EuroCup after helping the club last season reach the EuroCup Eighthfinals as well as the quarterfinals in the Italian League.

Parks' resume is not that common among Americans in Europe, many of whom bounce from one country to the next and gradually work their way up the ladder of leagues in a linear manner. Parks however is playing his eighth season in Italy of nine years in Europe.

"I am extremely confident in my work and I expected to be here. Maybe not specifically eight years in Italy but just being able to play the game and continue to grow and take steps forward in my career," Parks says.

The New York City native was close to having a more common career path early on, playing two years in Italy's second division with Trieste and then starting the 2017-18 season with Telekom Baskets Bonn in Germany and the Basketball Champions League.

But Parks suffered a knee injury in October 2017 and needed surgery which kept him out the rest of the year. Instead of rehabbing in Germany or the United States, Parks decided to return to Trieste.

"I returned to Italy because I was still in the process of recovering and I never had surgery and never had any major injuries so it was a little uncomfortable and I didn't know what was going to happen next," he explains. "So, I figured why not go somewhere back where I was comfortable, where I knew people and knew how things work. And kind of give myself that sense of relief. And relieve a little bit of pressure off myself where I can go back and play and return to the player that I was. That was the greatest decision. I am happy I did that. Going back there offered me a situation where I could concentrate on myself 100 percent."

After missing the rest of 2017-18, Parks played the next season with Italian second division side Orlandina. And he debuted the following campaign in the Italian first division with Treviso, the club that had beaten Parks and Orlandina 3-0 in second division finals in 2019.

"Ultimately that was my goal - to play Serie A. Treviso gave me my first opportunity. I was extremely thankful to them in trusting me to be a Serie A player. It was a little bitter going to Treviso because the previous year Treviso defeated us in the finals to move into Serie A. It was a little bitter, but I was ready," Parks recalled.

After one season with Treviso, Parks did almost the unthinkable for an American in Europe. In 2020, the then 26-year-old decided to drop to the second division and play for Napoli with the goal of winning the league title after failing twice before: with Trieste in 2017 and with Orlandina in 2019.

"That's the reason I went back to A2. I could have stayed in Serie A or I could have moved to other countries but I needed to get that feeling off my chest and win one. That was a great year, a great feeling," said Parks, who also played in Napoli with Josh Mayo, a teammate from his short stay with Bonn. "It also kind of helped me reassure myself that I am who I am. Before becoming a professional player, I just thought of myself as a winner. Obviously, falling short in those years I didn't second guess myself, but it didn't feel good. And Naples allowed myself to get back to winning and being a winner. That was very, very important for me."

Besides winning the second-division title as expected, being in Naples also was special for Parks because it felt like his home in New York City. Parks had already seen a good bit of different locations in Italy. He spent two years in Trieste in the northeast, was in Sicily at Orlandina, back around the Adriatic Sea at Treviso and then in Naples. After two seasons there, Parks returned to the northeast to play with his current club Reyer.

Through all the years, Parks discovered a real love for Italy.

"I love so many things about Italy, most importantly the Italian culture. Changing countries and things like that can be a culture shock, but when I got here they made it super easy for me. I made many friends here, people I consider true friends with whom I will be friends after basketball who are Italian. It's kind of like a new home for me," he said.

A home that Parks has grown to love.