After 16 WNBA seasons, three WNBA championships, two MVP Awards, two Olympic gold medals and two NCAA national championships, Candace Parker, one of the greatest and most influential basketball players on the planet, is retiring.
Parker announced her departure on Sunday after forging a career as a versatile, highly skilled, and ballyhooed athlete who fulfilled their immense potential.
She made her announcement via an Instagram post.
“I’m retiring. I promised I’d never cheat the game & that I’d leave it in a better place than I came into it. The competitor in me always wants 1 more, but it’s time. My HEART & body knew, but I needed to give my mind time to accept it,” Parker wrote.
View this post on Instagram
Parker cited a lingering foot injury that won’t heal, which helped compel her to make the decision.
“It’s no fun playing in pain (10 surgeries in my career) it’s no fun knowing what you could do, if only… it’s no fun hearing “she isn’t the same” when I know why, it’s no fun accepting the fact you need surgery AGAIN,” she said.
News of her retirement reverberated around the sports world and in Chicago, where she played two seasons with the Sky and starred at suburban Naperville Central High School.
Everyone from legendary athletes to state lawmakers paid tribute to the 38-year-old for her distinguished career.
A person who I love and respect, a champion both at the collegiate and professional level, is retiring from the game – @Candace_Parker!
You said that you wanted to leave the game better than when you entered it – and your time at Tennessee, and 16 years in the league, have been… pic.twitter.com/8ZWXB87Q0M
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) April 28, 2024
All-Star. Champion. Game Changer. Legend. Icon. GOAT. Hometown Hero.
There so much more to say, but we’ll leave it at this:
Thank you, @Candace_Parker, and congrats on a HISTORIC career 💙 pic.twitter.com/U42FWSbe9l
— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) April 28, 2024
A Career Defined by Individual Achievement and Team Success
And speaking of her days at Naperville Central, Parker accomplished athletic feats that foretold a trajectory as a transcendent basketball star. At 15, many believe Parker was the first Illinois high school female athlete to dunk a basketball.
She also was a three-time Illinois state player of the year and won back-to-back Gatorade National Player of the Year awards. Parker also became the first female to win the dunk contest at the fabled McDonald’s All-American Game, beating out future NBA players J.R. Smith, Josh Smith and Rudy Gay.
Besides her feats of hardcourt brilliance, everywhere Parker went, she won — and at every level.
It started at Naperville Central, where she led her team to back-to-back state titles in 2003 and 2004.
When Parker signed on to play for the University of Tennessee Lady Volunteers under legendary coach Pat Summitt, she redshirted her first year due to a knee injury. But she roared back into the spotlight the next three seasons, posting dominant numbers and displaying a proficient and diverse skill set.
Under her University of Tennessee athletic profile, the 6-foot-4-inch Parker was listed as a guard, forward and center.
In addition to being named a two-time national player of the year, she helped the Lady Vols win national championships in the 2006-07 and 2007-08 seasons.
When she joined the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks in 2008, Parker became the first and only player in league history to win Rookie of the Year and the Most Valuable Player awards in the same season.
Parker would win WNBA titles everywhere she played, including the Sparks, Chicago Sky and, most recently, the Las Vegas Aces.
The Face of Women’s Basketball
Before Caitlin Clark, Parker’s presence helped buoy women’s basketball. She became the first woman basketball player to grace the popular NBA 2K video game cover.
Since 2018, Parker has worked as an analyst and commentator for NBA on TNT during the WNBA offseason, working alongside NBA greats like Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade.
One of her former Sparks teammates told the New York Times that Parker’s impact was so immense she deserved the “statue in front of the arena” treatment à la Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan.
“I think that the league should definitely be talking with the Sparks franchise to immortalize Candace in front of the Staples Center regardless of where she ends her career because she was just that huge,” said DeLisha Milton-Jones. “Candace should be the freakin’ emblem, you know, for the WNBA because, man, her being born when she was born to enter the league when she did — it was monumental.”
As for Parker’s future, she detailed her plans, quoting the famous Jay-Z verse about not being a businessman but “a business, man.”
“This is the beginning…I’m attacking business, private equity, ownership (I will own both a NBA & WNBA team), broadcasting, production, boardrooms, beach volleyball, dominoes…with the same intensity & focus I did basketball.”
About Post Author
