Forced to revise its budget downwards, ASVEL, through its president and coach Tony Parker, confirmed on Thursday the departure of French national team point guard Sylvain Francisco, just one month after his arrival. Uncertainty remains regarding the other big names announced for the team—Armoni Brooks, Nick Weiler-Babb, Daniel Theis, and even Vincent Collet.

When asked whether Sylvain Francisco had left ASVEL, Tony Parker, contacted on Thursday, simply replied: *“Yes, it’s true.”* The news, which appeared Wednesday evening on the Eurohoops website and in the Greek media, is not a surprise. Forced to drastically reduce its budget (from €59 million to €24 million, most likely) due to not having finalized the deal with an investment fund in time, Villeurbanne no longer had the means to keep a player whose contract was reportedly worth nearly €16 million over three years and who will ultimately join Panathinaikos.

The blow is harsh, but others could follow. In its initial €59 million project, ASVEL had attracted Armoni Brooks, MVP of the Italian Championship, Nick Weiler-Babb, and Daniel Theis. These are star players that the Villeurbanne club is unlikely to be able to retain either, even though Parker remained vague on these matters: “I don’t know, we’ll see, there are choices to be made.”

Similarly, the arrival of his former French national team coach, Vincent Collet, on the bench alongside Parker is no longer a certainty in a project that is now less ambitious. *“He asked me for some time* ,” admitted Parker, who now faces a challenge far removed from the grand dreams he had for his club at the start of the season. But the former Spurs point guard remains convinced that ASVEL will soon be able to achieve great things.

TL;DR:

Parker made himself coach while being the club owner, handed out massive contracts and promised a quintuppling of the budget without having secured funding, failed to secure funding, and now has to let go of ASVEL’s entire roster

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