One of the greatest of all time rides off into the sunset.
Candace Parker — a two-time MVP, two-time NCAA champion, three-time WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, among other honors — announced her retirement from basketball on Sunday.
“I promised that I would never cheat the game and that I would leave it in a better place than where I entered it,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “The competitor in me always wants 1 more, but it’s time.
“My HEART and my body knew it, but I had to give my mind time to accept it. I always wanted to leave the field without a parade or tour, just privately with those I love. What was going to be my last match, I left the field with my daughter. I finished the trip as I started it, with her.
Parker had signed a non-guaranteed deal with the Las Vegas Aces after missing the second half of the 2023 season with a foot injury. She posted that her foot was not cooperating with rehabilitation following surgery — her 10th procedure in her professional career — leading to her retirement 16 years after being drafted No. 1 overall. The announcement came less than an hour before the start of Aces training camp for the 2024 season.
Forever a GOAT. Forever an ace. pic.twitter.com/zGiCaIsBfh
– Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) April 28, 2024
Parker leaves the game as one of the best to ever grace a basketball court. His athletic prowess attracted national attention during high school. She won the McDonald’s All-American Game slam dunk contest as a senior, becoming the first woman to do so.
At Tennessee, she became the first player to dunk in an NCAA tournament game. She was also the second woman to dunk in a WNBA game, after former Los Angeles Sparks teammate Lisa Leslie. Parker was also the first to make two dunks in the WNBA.
As a frontcourt player in name only, Parker revolutionized the power forward position in women’s basketball. She routinely lifted the ball and ran the offense in college and as a professional, showcasing handles that were normally associated with guards, which expanded the definition of what a 4 could be.
“The most important thing is she always did it her way,” said Courtney Vandersloot, who performed with Parker on the Sky in 2021 and 2022. “She was the kind of player who changed the given. What we see now, Candace was doing very early on. As she says, 10 operations later, she was still performing at a very high level because she was a true professional.
Parker also made a name for himself as a basketball analyst, bringing attention to women’s soccer with his work for Turner Sports on the men’s side. In doing so, she paved the way for current players to have second careers in broadcasting.
“Everyone knows Candace Parker,” A’ja Wilson said. “Candace set the tone, and I don’t think she gets enough credit to be a face of the W. Young black girls who love to hoop, you don’t meet one that doesn’t say ‘Candace Parker ‘,” because that’s what we saw.
Everywhere she went, Parker won. She was a two-time NCAA champion at Tennessee, earning player of the year honors twice during her college career. The Lady Vols have not won another title since Parker graduated in 2008. The Sparks selected her first overall in the 2008 WNBA Draft, and Parker became the only player to win the title for MVP during his rookie season.
She led Los Angeles to its third WNBA title in 2016, winning Finals MVP and dedicating the honor to her late coach Pat Summitt, who died of Alzheimer’s disease earlier that year. In 2021, Parker returned home to Chicago and brought the Sky their first (and only) WNBA title in franchise history. In 2023, she moved to Las Vegas and was part of one of the most dominant lineups in league history before suffering a foot injury in July.
The Aces nevertheless won the championship, giving Parker three rings in her WNBA career to match her jersey number.
“I obviously think Candace has had an incredible career. … I’m a little sad about (her retirement) because you love going against her and the legend that she is,” said two-time WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart. “What she has done on this court and off the court has been incredible for our league. I really appreciate what she did to help me get to where I am.
Parker’s success extended overseas, where she was a EuroLeague champion and won the Russian league five times. She played for USA Basketball on the World Championship team after her sophomore year of college, the only middle schooler on the senior team, and went on to compete in two Olympics. Her exclusion from the 2016 roster was widely criticized and served as motivation for her first WNBA title that year.
Parker leaves the game as the WNBA’s ninth all-time leading scorer, seventh in assists and third in rebounds. She was a starter until her final game with the Aces, opting to retire before being relegated to a bench role in the twilight of her career.
Ben Pickman contributed to this report.
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(Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)