Candace Parker never wanted to cheat.
From a player shaped by Pat Summitt and the legacy of the Lady Vols, one would expect nothing less. Thanks to 10 surgical operations. Her pregnancy and the birth of her first child, Lailaa, after her rookie season. Thanks to offseasons spent playing in Russia, China and Turkey, and later, offseasons behind the desk on TNT, NBATV and CBS. In a career that spanned 16 seasons and three cities in the WNBA, four years in Tennessee and two Olympics, we can say this with certainty: Parker never cheated. Instead, it almost feels like the game should have given it even more than it did.
Parker, 38, announced on Instagram on Sunday that she had retired from the WNBA. From his home, a hotel or a gym somewhere, Parker silently pushed to send and let the world know that one of the greatest to ever step foot on a basketball court would no longer play.
There was no warning or warning to the WNBA community or the players it competed against for years. And there will be no goodbye period or months-long walk toward retirement. It was quick and succinct. And it was exactly what she wanted – entirely on her terms. After a career too often ruined by injuries, this was due to him.
“I always wanted to leave the field without a parade or tour,” her Instagram caption read. “Just in private with the ones I love.”
The fact that Parker’s last WNBA game was a 2-point road loss to Dallas in 2023 is a footnote in her history. It may have been her last game on the court, but her last WNBA game was a league championship. His third. She may have been at the end of the bench, undressed, but she was crucial to the Las Vegas Aces every step of the way. Parker came out like she always was: a winner, an incredible teammate, and an advocate for the game.
When reading Parker’s message, the first memory that comes to mind is not of her last season in Las Vegas, but of her last game of the 2021 season. She had returned to Chicagoland after 13 seasons in Los Angeles to bring a title to the city. It was the first offseason under a new CBA where free agency could flourish and she was – fittingly as one of the players who helped build the league – one of the first to deliver shocking news on free agency. A few months later, in October, in the deciding Game 4 of the WNBA Finals, with five seconds left, Parker pulled down the final rebound of the 2021 season and started dribbling down the court. As time passed, she picked up the ball and sprinted to the corner of the field, where her family was waiting. She jumped into their arms.
She returned to center field to celebrate with her teammates until she spotted Lailaa and motioned for her to come running. That’s when the tears really started to flow. Parker played part of his rookie season pregnant with Lailaa and so Lailaa has been following Parker’s basketball journey since birth.
This moment with Lailaa💙@Candace_Parker | #skycity pic.twitter.com/6cQsv7QLrb
– Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) October 17, 2021
“Look at the city, man, they all came,” Parker said, looking up at the sold-out arena, arms wrapped around his daughter. “They all came.”
But Parker has always been a player people show up for — the fans, the cities, her family, the free agents. This season had its own warning signs of a rapidly changing league as viewership and attendance increased. During that final match, Chance the Rapper and Scottie Pippen sat courtside, but it was Lailaa who she held closest to after the match.
His basketball career spans the epic growth of the sport that has only accelerated over the past few seasons. In 2003, she became the first women’s basketball player to announce her college commitment on ESPN. She would later become the first women’s player to dunk in an NCAA game. In the WNBA, she became the first (and still only) player to win MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season. She then became the first player to win three league titles with three franchises.
She was one of the first players to test the limits of positionless basketball. Even in college, her unicorn skills were undeniable. During the national title game his senior year, play-by-play announcer Mike Patrick said, “It’s almost unfair – someone his size with that kind of speed and that kind of handling of the ball. »
But it wasn’t unfair. Parker was just different. Perhaps ahead of its time. Maybe just in time. She pushed the boundaries of what people saw for women’s basketball players. And she would continue to do so as a WNBA player, on and off the court.
She became an entertainer, an investor, the owner of a professional women’s soccer team, the face of Adidas basketball, a producer, and a mother (in addition to Lailaa, she and her wife, Anna Petrakov, are expecting their second child together). She did all of this while continuing to battle career-threatening injuries but rehabilitating so she could continue to be one of the best players in the WNBA. His commitment to the game never wavered. She refused to give less than anything. The memory of Summitt not hesitating to expel him from college practice for not giving 100 percent remained fresh in his mind, even two decades later.
Following the announcement of his retirement, social media was flooded with photos of people – WNBA players, NBA players, athletes and fans – who looked up to Parker, both as a player and in person.
“The most important thing is she always did it her way,” said former teammate Courtney Vandersloot. Athleticism. “She was the type of player who changed the game. What we see now, Candace was doing very early on.
Candace Parker has retired from the WNBA.
I told him the news. Here’s his instant reaction ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/WD8unfrBdt
–Ben Pickman (@benpickman) April 28, 2024
Parker has never cheated in basketball. She changed it. And, if anything, it owed her a few more attempts at a title and more wins while being fully healthy or having a full roster around her. Regardless of her last game, her last win or her last title, Parker changed the expectations of a basketball player and a WNBA player by being 100% herself. She stood on the shoulders of giants while simultaneously allowing others to stand on her shoulders.
For 16 WNBA seasons, Parker played for her family, her city and her league. She proved that she could be almost as effective at this on the bench as a motivator and coach, when life demanded it all too often, as she was on the court. Even in retirement, her impact will be felt through the sport she helped develop.
Now the girl who fell in love with a “little orange ball at 13” can relax in retirement knowing that it will mean she will bounce back better for the next generation.
(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)