Chandler Parsons on his car accident: 'I was bringing my girl home spaghetti and half the red in my car everywhere was marinara sauce'

Chandler Parsons on his car accident that led to his retirement: It was nuts. I was leaving practice one day in Atlanta, two o’clock on a Wednesday. And I’m driving and I just see this car coming at me and just completely T-Bones me. And I had never been to a crash before. I’d never been in a fender bender or anything. It’s kind of the craziest story. I’m completely out, right? Like I’m knocked out. And I wake up… and by the time I wake up, there are already sirens. The windows were bashed in, airbag’s out, I had a cut on my wrist, I was bleeding… and I couldn’t move my neck! And I’m like, shit this is serious. And I can see the guy who hit me, he’s completely knocked out, blood everywhere. And I’m like, wow, this is scary. I’m looking at my car’s all messed up. There’s red everywhere, and I hear this voice and I’m not like a religious spiritual kind of guy like that, but I hear this voice and it’s like ‘Chandler Mr. Parsons. We’re coming to get you’re going to be okay’. And at that moment, I’m like sitting there. I’m like ‘f—, I died’. This is God, this is what happened, right? Blood everywhere. And I snapped out of it and it was the OnStar from my car. They were telling me they were coming to get me and I was bringing my girl home spaghetti. So half the red in my car everywhere was marinara sauce, but at the moment I’m tripping, I’m like, ‘oh shit!’
Source: Apple Podcasts

More on this storyline

Chandler Parsons: The next day I go and Atlanta is like, hey, you need to lawyer up like, once they find out who you are what you’re driving like, this guy’s gonna sue you. And I’m like, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong! What do you mean?!’ It turns out this dude, it’s his third DUI, 56 years old and it was just like completely his fault. And so I was in this lawsuit basically for two years where I was recovering from injuries: I messed my neck up, I tore my labrum, my shoulder and a super gnarly concussion. That kind of forced my hand to basically retire. And I never thought I’d do that at 31 years old, you want to go out on your own terms. But it was scary. Then the whole world closed down with COVID. And I think everything kind of happened for a reason. But it was scary. -via Apple Podcasts / March 15, 2022 Chandler Parsons: Physically, I’m getting better. I’m still rehabbing, working out, still training. The injuries are permanent, I’m not going to play in the NBA anymore. But to live my life and do what I want to do to be a father, travel, things like that… I’m okay. And the lawsuit settled. So now I’m finally free. -via Apple Podcasts / March 15, 2022