Candace Parker reflects on her award-winning WNBA career.
Parker, 38, announced her retirement from basketball on April 28 in a lengthy Instagram post, and now the three-time WNBA champion tells PEOPLE that her decision feels “bittersweet” as the league’s new season begins on May 14.
“I played 16 years in the WNBA, and this would be my 17th year,” she says. – Bitter is sweet.
Parker, who joins WNBA stars Cameron Brink, Dijonai Carrington, Kelsey Plum and Skylar Diggins-Smith as the faces of SKIMS’ Fits Everybody underwear campaign, adds, “I love the game of basketball, and I loved it before I I started getting paid to play it and I will love it forever.”
Although she won’t be competing on any WNBA courts again, Parker says she’s found the next best thing to getting her competitive juices flowing after retirement — spending time with her family. “I have a basketball hoop at my house, and my family laughs at me because I’m super competitive, so I’m the one who says, ‘Let’s go outside and play,’ and all that stuff,” says the mother of two.
Shaquille O’Neal and recently retired WNBA star Candace Parker say ‘I love you’ to each other in Sweet Moment
Parker and his wife, Anna Petrakova, have a two-year-old son, Airr Larry, and Petrakova is currently pregnant with their second child together. Parker is also mom to Laila, 14, from a previous relationship.
Anna Petrakova and host Candace Parker attend Candace’s Ace All-Star Party. Daniel Boczarski/Getty
“I almost feel guilty for my wife because we were playing horse last week and I’m talking about a mess with a pregnant woman who’s about to give birth,” jokes Parker. “And I say, ‘Well, you knew what you were doing when you came here.’ It’s more important to throw out competing juices,” she shares.
“We play dominoes, we play board games, but it’s still not the same as competition in the way I’m used to.”
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In her retirement announcement, Parker said she knew it was “time” to retire from the game despite her love for the sport.
She wrote: “I promised to never cheat the game and to leave it in a better place than when I came in. The competitor in me always wants 1 more but it’s time,” alongside a photo of herself as a small child holding is holding a basketball.
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“My HEART and body knew, but I had to give my mind time to accept it,” she continued before offering her best advice to current female WNBA players.
“Today’s players: ENJOY,” Parker wrote. “No matter how you prepare for it, you won’t be prepared for the void it leaves in your soul.”
Parker is the first WNBA player to win three championships with three different teams. She won her first ring with the Sparks in 2016. She then went to play in her hometown of Chicago, leading the Chicago Sky to a title in 2021 before joining the Las Vegas Aces for a championship in 2023.
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Source: HIS Education