Spurs guard Tony Parker has made his decision on where he’ll play this season during the NBA lockout.

The decision was not a tough one, considering he knows the boss of his new team.

On Wednesday, Parker tweeted: “Going to play in France !!! Let’s go ASVEL !!! De retour en France pour jouer avec I’ASVEL !!!”

In 2009, Parker bought a 20 percent stake in ASVEL and serves as the vice president of basketball operations for the club.

Parker told the sports daily L’Equipe that the decision is “logical,” telling the paper, “I’ll be playing nearly for free.  . . . If I play the entire season, we’ll go for the title.”

The San Antonio Express-News reports that Parker will make $1,995 per month and that the contract has an opt-out clause for Parker to return to the Spurs should the NBA lockout end.

This will be Parker’s second stint playing in the country. From 1999-2001, Parker played for Paris Basket Racing after passing up offers from UCLA and Georgia Tech to attend college in the states. He was selected as the 28th overall pick by the Spurs in the 2001 NBA Draft.

Parker’s first game with ASVEL is expected to be on Oct. 14.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Tony Parker(notes) has decided to play during the NBA’s lockout for a basketball club in France that he holds a 20 percent stake in. No shocker there, as Parker has hinted at this possibility for months. What’s surprising, though, is the San Antonio Spurs All-Star’s monthly salary. The 2007 NBA Finals MVP wants to play for just under $2,000 a month, which might make him the worst paid NBA transplant out there.

From the Associated Press:

“[Parker] will play with a French team during the NBA lockout, earning a mere $1,995 per month despite his star power on and off the basketball court.

ASVEL, which is based in Villeurbanne, near Lyon in southeast France, announced on Wednesday that Parker will play for them.

Parker told the sports daily L’Equipe that the decision is “logical.” He is vice president of the club and wants to help it advance.

The Frenchman says, “I’ll be playing nearly for free … If I play the entire season, we’ll go for the title.”

This is a pretty hefty “love of the game”-situation, and insurance issues (what if Tony has a bad fall? The Spurs could void his contract) aside, it makes perfect sense. Even if Parker was set to make $12.5 million this year with the Spurs.

These players are going to be working out during the lockout, even if the NBA decides to pass on having a season during 2011-12. At some point, tossing around the medicine ball and jumping rope (this is how NBA players work out, right?) just won’t suffice, and guys are bound to get together for a five-on-five game. And you might as well amp up the level of competition — say, to the arc of a professional league. And you might as well get paid, right? Two grand is too much? OK, call it $1,995.

Parker also holds the title of “vice president of basketball operations” for the club, but he apparently has no say in personnel matters. Though we suspect that ASVEL has no qualms with Parker signing himself to his own team.

We’ll let you add your own bon mot in the comments section.

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Related: Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs, NBA lockout, International hoops

Read More: Tony Parker (G – SAN), Nicolas Batum (F – POR), San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker made his case to be the MVP of Eurobasket 2011 with a spectacular performance in France’s quarterfinal win over Greece on Thursday. After struggling in the first half, Parker took over in the second half to lead France to the 64-56 win.

Early on, Greece was in front. Led by Antonis Fostus, Greece jumped ahead 21-14 early in the second quarter and led by four points at halftime. Greece took a seven-point lead in the third quarter before Parker took over. The Spurs’ guard showed off his jump-shooting ability and eventually put France in front by six with four minutes to go. Greece closed to within two late, but Portland Trail Blazers small forward Nicolas Batum hit a key bucket late to hold them off. Parker finished with 18 points and Batum added 15.

France will next face the winner of the second game of the day, which pits Serbia against Russia.

The San Antonio Spurs would undoubtedly prefer to see them playing together in South Texas, but the prospect of Tony Parker and longtime Spurs favorite Omri Casspi teaming up in France is very much alive.

Sources close to the situation told ESPN.com on Monday that Casspi is giving strong consideration to signing with ASVEL in France’s top division.

That’s the same ASVEL club which claims Parker as a co-owner and as its vice president of basketball operations.

It initially appeared that Casspi — after being dealt from Sacramento to Cleveland on June 30 in the final trade consummated in the NBA before the start of the July 1 lockout — was a lock to play for perennial Euroleague power Maccabi Tel-Aviv in his native Israel in the event of the lockout bleeding into November or December.

But David Pick of Eurobasket.com reported earlier Monday that Casspi and Maccabi officials, after a sitdown, have mutually agreed that they would not be able to reach contract terms that both sides can stomach.

France isn’t the only destination that Casspi — coveted by the Spurs since he was drafted No. 23 overall by the Kings in 2009 — is considering as a lockout alternative. Various reports in the Israeli media say he’s drawn interest from clubs in Russia and Spain.

But ASVEL, situatated in the Lyon suburb of Villeurbanne, does have one clear advantage: Casspi and Parker share the same agent. They’re both represented by CAA’s Steven Heumann.

Last week in London on duty with the French national team, Parker told ESPN.com contributor Ian Whittell that he will play in his native France if he plays anywhere other than the NBA this season as opposed to seizing upon the interest Parker has generated from teams in China.

“My agent talked about China a little bit,” Parker told Whittell. “… I’m not going to take any decision until the end of September, after the European Championships. I want to see if I’m healthy, if I’m hurt and by then we will also know a lot more what is happening with the situation of the lockout.

“If I play [abroad], I will definitely play in France, for my fans, for my team ASVEL.”

As for the prospect of Casspi ultimately winding up alongside Parker in the French League, one source close to the situation said it really “might happen.”

Casspi is currently nursing a injured left knee that threatens to knock him out of the European Championships (EuroBasket) later this month in Lithuania. Israel’s only NBA player told reporters over the weekend that “right now my leg is in a bad state.”

Not too surprisingly, TP has plans to hoop in France (where he played professionally for 4 seasons prior to joining the San Antonio Spurs) during the NBA’s lockout. From BasketUSA (via SB Nation): “On the lockout, Parker said that it ‘is a problem of rich,’ apparently intimating that the owners are at fault despite his signing a four-year, $50 million extension with the Spurs last fall. This isn’t exactly a surprising stance, however, as there’s no reason for him to blame his fellow players for the problems keeping the NBA from playing next season. If the NBA doesn’t play next season, or at least if the lockout lasts into 2012, Parker plans to give a big boost to ASVEL — the team he part-owns and manages in France. ‘If in January-February, the NBA says the lockout will last until the end of the season, I will come to France, but the NBA season can start anytime — They will not say in October that the strike will last all year, it does not work like that,’ Parker said. ‘But if so, I’d head over to the ASVEL because I’m general manager and executive director.’”