FILE – Las Vegas Aces ahead Candace Parker reacts through the first half of a WNBA basketball recreation towards the Seattle Storm, Might 20, 2023, in Seattle. The three-time WNBA champion has introduced she’s retiring. Parker, a two-time league MVP, introduced in a social media publish on Sunday, April 28, 2024 that she’s ending her profession after 16 seasons. (AP Photograph/Lindsey Wasson, File)
Candace Parker at all times mentioned she’d know when it might be time to retire. That day got here Sunday.
The three-time WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist introduced on social media that her profession was over after 16 seasons.
“The competitor in me at all times desires 1 extra, nevertheless it’s time,” Parker wrote in an Instagram publish. “My HEART & physique knew, however I wanted to offer my thoughts time to just accept it.”
READ: Sparks’ Candace Parker, daughter a ‘bundle deal’ in Florida
Parker, 38, had advised The Related Press in November she needed to play one other season if she may get wholesome from a foot damage that stored her off the courtroom final season. However she cautioned that she didn’t need to “cheat the sport,” or herself, and expressed the identical in asserting her retirement forward of the Aces’ try to win a 3rd title in a row. Parker has had 10 surgical procedures over her profession.
“I promised I’d by no means cheat the sport & that I’d depart it in a greater place than I got here into it. … I at all times needed to stroll off the courtroom with no parade or tour, simply privately with those I really like,” she wrote. “What now was to be my final recreation, I walked off the courtroom with my daughter. I ended the journey simply as I began it, together with her.”
Parker performed her first 13 seasons within the league with the Los Angeles Sparks, establishing her dominance early as a No. 1 decide who gained Rookie of the Yr and league MVP in the identical season. Parker was the one WNBA participant to perform that feat, averaging 18.5 factors, 9.5 rebounds and three.4 assists whereas serving to the Sparks to a 10-win enchancment in 2008.
Parker earned her second MVP award in 2013 and gained her first title in 2016 with the Sparks. She’d go on to win a second title with the Chicago Sky in 2021 and a 3rd with the Las Vegas Aces final season.
“It’s robust, it’s bittersweet for myself as a result of I’d have beloved to have her with us this yr. Then again I do know precisely what it seems like when it’s time, it’s time. The physique tells you. It’s not what your thoughts or your coronary heart is saying. It’s your physique,” Aces coach Becky Hammon mentioned. “She modified the sport. She modified what it meant to be a positional basketball participant. She performed all positions. She’s the one while you discuss those that at the moment are taking part in and arising, they practiced Candace Parker’s strikes.”
READ: Las Vegas Aces turn out to be repeat WNBA champs, beating New York Liberty
She’s the one participant in league historical past to win a championship with three completely different groups.
“The recollections Candace Parker created for a technology of girls’s basketball followers will stay ingrained in our collective conscience eternally, however she has given a lot extra to the sport past her accolades and statistics,” the Aces mentioned in a press release. “As a teammate and mentor, a mom and spouse, a baller, broadcaster, and businesswoman she has impressed numerous younger folks, each girls and boys, to chase and obtain their desires.”
Parker performed for the late Pat Summitt’s final two nationwide championship groups at Tennessee in 2007 and 2008. She then left with one yr of eligibility remaining.
She gained Olympic gold medals in 2008 and 2012 earlier than shockingly being left off the 2016 workforce.
“I feel clearly Candace has had an incredible profession. I’m slightly bit unhappy about it since you love going up towards her, the legend that she is,” Liberty star Breanna Stewart mentioned. “What she has achieved on and off the courtroom has been superb for our league. Respect all she’s achieved to assist me get to the place I’m. We’ll positively miss her this season.”
Liberty coach Sandy Brondello coached Parker abroad in Russia for just a few years through the winter.
“She’s a trailblazer. Only a great human being and what she’s achieved for this sport,” Brondello mentioned. “Hopefully it’s celebrated. I’ve received lots of respect for her. Our children grew up collectively after I was teaching in Russia. It’s type of unhappy. Everybody is aware of when it’s the best time.”
Parker started working in broadcasting throughout her taking part in profession. She has labored as an analyst for the NCAA Event with CBS Sports activities and for NBA TV.
She had surgical procedure on her foot in July 2023 and advised the AP it nonetheless pained her on the finish of final yr.
“This offseason hasn’t been enjoyable on a foot that isn’t cooperating,” she wrote in her publish Sunday. “My mission in life, like Pat Summitt at all times mentioned, is to ‘chase folks and passions and you’ll by no means fail.’ Being a spouse & mother nonetheless stays precedence #1 & I’ve realized that point flies, so I plan to get pleasure from my household to the fullest!”
