Bobby Ray Parks Jr.

Early life and high school career

Parks was born in Metro Manila to Bobby Parks, Sr. and Marifer Celine Barbosa. His father was playing basketball in the Philippines. Parks Sr. had been drafted 58th overall in the third round of the 1984 NBA draft and went on to become a seven-time Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Best Import awardee and Hall of Famer. Parks Sr. and Barbosa separated. Barbosa moved to Los Angeles in 2003, while Parks Sr. left for Memphis, Tennessee, in 2005. Parks and his younger sister, Celine, remained in the Philippines until 2006, when his sister went to live with their mother, while he went to live with his father and his stepfamily, who were also Filipino.

After moving to Memphis, Parks started playing organized basketball at the age of 13. As a freshman and sophomore, he attended St. George's Independent School in Collierville, Tennessee, where he was named Tennessee's Division II-A Mr. Basketball as the state's private school player of the year in 2009.

Parks transferred to Melrose High School for the 2009–10 season and helped his team win a class AAA state championship. In November 2010, he committed to Georgia Tech as the No. 31-ranked shooting guard in the class of 2011, but later decommitted and followed his father back to the Philippines.

National University Bulldogs

In September 2010, Parks enrolled in a computer course at National University in Manila with the hope of playing for the NU Bulldogs in 2011. During his first University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) season with the Bulldogs, Parks averaged 20.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.1 blocks and 1.1 steals per game and was named the Most Valuable Player of the 74th and 75th seasons. As a biracial Filipino-American, Parks had to adjust to being treated by referees as a foreigner as opposed to the native that he was.

PBA D-League

Following the 2013 UAAP season, Parks joined NU-Banco De Oro, which had a school tie-up with NU, for the 2013–14 Aspirants' Cup. In March 2014, he signed with the NLEX Road Warriors for the 2014 PBA D-League Foundation Cup.

After being deemed ineligible for the 2014 NBA draft, Parks returned to the Philippines and joined the Hapee Fresh Fighters for the 2014–15 D-League season. Happee Fresh Fighters went on to win the 2015 Aspirants' Cup championship, while Parks won the Aspirants' Cup MVP award.

2015 NBA draft

In 2015, Parks was in pursuit of being the first Filipino-born player to play in the NBA. He became automatically eligible for the 2015 NBA draft as an international player who turned 22 during the calendar year of the draft. In June 2015, prior to the 2015 NBA draft, Parks was invited to work out for the Utah Jazz, Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics.

Parks went undrafted, but received an invitation from the Dallas Mavericks to play for their Summer League team. In six games for Dallas, he averaged 3.0 points and 1.7 rebounds per game, becoming the first Filipino-born player to play in the Summer League.

NBA D-League

On October 31, 2015, Parks was selected by the Texas Legends in the second round of the 2015 NBA Development League Draft. He became the second Filipino to be drafted in the NBA D-League after Japeth Aguilar in 2012.

Parks made his debut with the Legends on November 23, 2015 against the Austin Spurs. He went scoreless in 10 minutes of play and went 0-of-2 from the field. On December 13, 2015, he scored his first basket for the Legends. Parks' putback layup with 14.5 seconds remaining gave him his first-ever basket in the D-League. He also finished with one assist and three rebounds in six minutes of action against the Sioux Falls Skyforce. On April 1, 2016, he scored a career-high 16 points against the Oklahoma City Blue. In 2015–16, Parks averaged 4.6 points and 1.9 rebounds in 32 games.

After the Legends did not retain Parks for the 2016–17 season, he entered the 2016 NBA Development League Draft, where he was selected in the sixth round by the Westchester Knicks. He was unsuccessful in gaining an opening-night roster spot with Westchester, as the team waived him on November 9, 2016.

ASEAN Basketball League

On November 18, 2016 Parks officially joined Alab Pilipinas of the ASEAN Basketball League.

On December 11, 2016, he scored a career-high 41 points and 14 rebounds against the Kaohsiung Truth.

National team career

In 2015, Parks played for Gilas Cadets at the SEABA championships and the Southeast Asian Games.

In July 2016, Parks played for Gilas Pilipinas at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Manila.