This article is about the American former professional basketball player. For the park in Louisville, see Cherokee Park. For the neighborhood in Lexington, see Cherokee Park, Lexington.
Cherokee Bryan Parks (born October 11, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player. He played nine seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Parks had a stint as a team liaison for the New Orleans Pelicans, and is now in charge of Player Development in the NBA
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Parks said that his mother named him "Cherokee" because in 1972, when she was pregnant, "she learned that her husband's great-grandmother had been a full-blooded Cherokee."[3] Parks stated, "It was serious stuff...I was politically active then, and the name was a tribute."[3][4][5] His sister was the original bass player for the band Nashville Pussy.[6]