In an article by USA Today April 17, popular Latter-day Saint college basketball star Jabari Parker was announced to have declared his intention to enter the NBA draft after playing only one season as a Duke Blue Devil.
Parker, the highest-scoring freshman in Duke basketball history, also announced April 11 that he had “ruled out” the traditional 2-year missionary service generally expected of most male members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“Mormons”). He told ESPN that the decision, at that point, was “between returning to school or declaring for the draft.”
As of today, the 6-foot-8 forward and team MVP has decided to go pro. With the record-breaking numbers he put up this season, Parker is expected to be selected top-3 in the draft, and would become the first African-American Latter-day Saint to play in the NBA.
Parker told radio station ESPN L.A. today that the decision was “very difficult,” but that he recognized a responsibility to represent the league well both on and off the court.
There will no doubt be a landslide of public opinion spreading across all forms of media, particularly within the Latter-day Saint community, regarding Parker’s decision. He would not be the first prominent Latter-day Saint to decide against serving a “Mormon mission,” despite Church President Thomas S. Monson’s declaration in October 2010 that missionary service is “a priesthood duty—an obligation the Lord expects of us who have been given so very much.”
Danny Ainge, president of the NBA’s Boston Celtics and a current Latter-day Saint bishop in Boston, chose not to serve a mission.
Donny Osmond, another Latter-day Saint famous for his successful career in music, also decided against a mission. Of the decision, Osmond has been quoted as saying, “My parents and church leaders at the time all believed that I was able to do much more good if I remained in the public eye… and lived the standards of our religion.”
If Osmond’s spiritual compass is pointed someplace near true North, then Parker’s greatest challenge will likely lie not in putting up points and rebounds on the court, but remaining true to his faith under enduring scrutiny while off the court. The Latter-day Saint community may experience some division on the subject of Parker’s decision not to don the conspicuous white-shirt-and-tie uniform of the “Mormon” missionaries, but the increased publicity his draft eligibility earns the Church will surely raise the bar for all Church members to act in a manner consistent with their faith at all times, and regardless of who is watching.
