WNBA legend Candace Parker sees a bright future for women’s basketball

PHOENIX – Candace Parker arrived at WNBA All-Star Weekend for the first time as a retiree.

Parker, a three-time WNBA champion and seven-time All-Star, believes that the game is in great hands as she is proud of the growth of the not only the WNBA All-Star Weekend to major coverage but the league’s overall popularity with new stars such as Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese.

“I don’t want to be the old head that’s like, ‘Back in my day…’ but back in my day, we went to the gym, we sat for four hours for media, maybe 10 people showed up back in 2012 or 2013,” said Parker to Andscape during a wine dinner with WNBA sponsor LaCrema and Kendall-Jackson Wines on Thursday night at the Hermosa Inn. “We were at the Mohegan Sun, which I don’t know if any of you all have been there. We didn’t see light for three days, then we would go, we’d go play the game and then we’d be ushered. There was nothing. There were no dinners, there were no parties, there was no orange carpet.

“So, to see the growth of where it is now, it’s super-special. And also, to see companies and wines wanting to be sponsors for the WNBA, it takes time. And I think everybody wanted to rush the process. But the MLB didn’t take off until 30 years in, the NBA didn’t take off until 30 years in and we’re what? Year 28? So, sometimes it’s like, alright, let’s let it grow. And it has. I have spoken to [Phoenix Mercury owner] Matt Ishbia 15 times. He’s so amped for this game. He is bringing out everything. I think that that’s what it deserves and I’m proud that the last two at least have been supported and a lot of people have showed up to be a part of it.”

Parker retired from the WNBA on April 29 after playing in 16 seasons. The Naperville, Illinois, native’s WNBA career included Parker was a seven WNBA All-Star nods, two WNBA MVP awards, a history-making WNBA Rookie of the Year and MVP award in 2008, and a 2020 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year award. Parker won two Olympic gold medals and was a two-time NCAA champion and NCAA Tournament Player of the Year at the University of Tennessee. The future Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer also played professionally in Europe where she was a five-time Russian National League champion and 2013 EuroLeague champion. She is currently an NBA and college basketball analyst with Turner Sports.

The following is a Q&A with Parker in which she reflects on her career in the WNBA, Olympics and college, the future of women’s basketball and much more.

You retired from playing professional basketball on April 29, not too long before the 2024 WNBA season. Does that mean you were considering returning?

We make promises when we’re younger to ourselves and then, as we get older, we let the emotions kind of factor into the decision. I always told myself I never wanted to cheat the game. After my foot injury, I broke my navicular bone last year midway through the season and I had season-ending surgery July 27 last year around this time. I just was never going to be able to get back to the point that I wanted to compete at. I could have probably tried to play another year and struggled through it, but to me, I just love the game too much.

And all of you all probably know [former Detroit Pistons star] Isiah Thomas, “Bad Boy.” I grew up in Chicagoland, so we didn’t like him. But I worked with him at NBA TV and he said when he came down and he crossed somebody over and they didn’t go for the cross when he was like 34, 35 [years old], it just wasn’t fun anymore. When you couldn’t win your matchup the way you normally win your matchup, it just isn’t fun.

I had a small taste of that last year when I was hurt. I don’t want people to be like, ‘Dang, I saw Candace. She was out there trying to play basketball.’ I want to be remembered playing. And so yeah, my circle was like — I told them a couple years ago — I’m like, ‘Tell me when it’s time.’ So, they told me when it was time.

My circle is my brother, Anthony [Parker], he played 10 years in NBA. He was like, ‘It’s about time, it’s coming.’ My daughter is another one that was just like, ‘How come you didn’t chase down and block her?’ Just casually like, ‘Well because baby, I can’t. I’m 30-something years old.’ Yeah, so those are the two. My dad as well. So those are kind of the circle that kind of told me it was time a little bit.

I went through a month of mourning, a month where I couldn’t watch basketball, I couldn’t turn it on. It made me sick to my stomach. And then after about a month, I was sitting at my daughter’s volleyball game and I was like, ‘I’m right where I need to be.’ She sacrificed so much for me this whole time, going to Russia, China, everywhere, Turkey. It is time for me to be front row and front and center for her. That’s where I kind of understood, yes, I would love to still continue to play the game at the level I could, but everybody’s going to have to retire.

You had an amazing documentary on ESPN+ where said you had colleagues that retired that warned you about what you’re going to miss most. They said what you’re going to miss is the plane ride, the locker room, the camaraderie so far. Is that true? What do you miss the most so far?

What’s so crazy is I retired when I was on break from television too, so it was like everything ended at the same time because normally I go right from TV straight into the WNBA season. The way it was set up, I was supposed to go straight into WNBA season, so I didn’t have any dates on the calendar for television after I retired. So, it was just kind of like the first couple weeks I was like, ‘Wow.’ I’m trying to block my son’s shot. I need something competitive. I’m talking junk at Domino’s. He’s 2 years old. I’m like, I don’t care. I need somebody to compete against. I’m going to my daughter’s volleyball practices, trying to slam on the kids.

You miss the locker room and you miss those bus rides and the team element of development and coming together and things like that. I get a little bit of that at Turner with television and working in the locker room, but I think the thing I miss the most is just the competitive. You just go out there and you just want to compete and practice. You just want to win every drill. You just want to go out in the game and somebody in the crowd tells you, ‘You can’t, You’re nothing.’ And then you’re like, ‘OK, bet. I’m talking to you the whole night.’

That is what I’m struggling with, and unfortunately my family gets the brunt of that. So, domino games, so serious. Spades. I don’t even think my wife and I have talked in a couple weeks because of spades. So yeah, so it’s a competitive thing I think that I miss the most.

Sports on a high level gives athletes a high that you can’t recreate once you’re done. Would you agree with that?

The dopamine, there is nothing to recreate that. I try to do it on the Peloton, it just doesn’t work. I try to compete with ‘Pedals with Patty.’ And it just doesn’t, doesn’t work. It doesn’t.

Let’s go back to Knoxville, Tennessee. You had incredible success there with an incredible coach at the University of Tennessee. Tell us about the late legendary coach Pat Summit and what lessons are you going to give to your children from her?

Pat was a walking lesson. A lot of people try to tell and say lessons. Pat just was a lesson. Everything she did. I tell this story until I’m blue in the face. I remember I was a stubborn 19-year-old. I arrived in Knoxville — teenagers, if any of you have them, they know everything. I was no different. And Pat told me to do something in practice and I was kind of hesitant. So, she kicked me out of practice. So, I’m in the locker room, I’m storming back and forth. I’m like, alright, I’m going to show her, whatever.

So, next day we had 6:00 a.m. practice and so I was like, ‘I’m going to get to the gym, I’m going to get there. I’m going to get 500 shots up. I’m going to be in a lathered sweat. I’m going to show her that I’m ready.’ I pulled up to the arena at 4:15, 4:30, her light in her office was on. She was already there working. And so, it’s one of those things where it’s like you can say even when you’ve accomplished all you want to do, the little things, that to me is what I want to pass on to my kids is no matter how big or how great or how much you accomplish, you still have to do the little things.

You still have to show up early, you still have to be a great teammate. You still have to communicate well. I don’t know. I’ll give y’all some homework. ‘The Definite Dozen’ is something that my kids can recite in our house. And one of them that she always used to give to me summer after summer was, ‘Handle success as you handle failure. Don’t beat yourself up when you fail. Don’t gloat when you accomplish something. Let’s build a plan. Let’s respect the journey. Let’s get up and do the work no matter whether it’s positive results or negative.’ And so, coach Summit, I mean she means the world to me. I wear her bracelet. I have her tattoo, ‘Left foot, right foot, breathe, repeat.’ She is an icon. She’s one of one.

You were Caitlin Clark before Caitlin Clark. And what I mean by that is the same attention she got you got when you came in the game. The attention of the WNBA changed, the viewership changed. They beat you up from the moment you walked in, and you were still the WNBA MVP in 2008. Can you reflect on that time?

It’s so interesting. I grew up you had to earn what you were given, obviously. And I grew up in a household where it was like even if you dropped 40 [points], at the dinner table my dad and my brothers were going to get on you about the turnover you had or the missed layup or some assignment. That’s how we keep each other humble at our dinner table. So, coming into the league, yes, I could talk about the opponents I was playing against, but my teammates — Lisa, Leslie and DeLisha Milton-Jones — did not let me have anything easy. And I think because of them I was able to play against the other WNBA players and it wasn’t as difficult as practice.

The first practice, I’ll never forget, Michael Cooper was our coach. He put me on the white team, he put DeLisha, he put Lisa Leslie, he put Tameka Johnson, all these women on the other team and he told them not to call any fouls for the white team. So, I’m thinking he’s joking. And I went in there and DeLisha laid me out and I was like, ‘Oh, you’re for real.’ This is really how it’s going to be. But because of that competition and that physicality, I don’t think anything we face ever fazed us.

For me, I think that at this part, in this part of the game, it’s physicality. That’s what it is. When we start talking about hate and sports, I think that that’s the basis of competition. We’re not trying to be dirty. But I think there’s a level of, ‘I want what you have. I don’t want you to win.’ And so, I think that when we approached it that way, that’s when we were able to laugh about it.

What have those conversations been like with Clark and have you been giving her some words of wisdom?

In that situation with all of the attention and the eyeballs and the greatness that she’s brought to sport, I respect what you’re doing and what you’re able to do. So, I don’t think I gave her any words of advice. I think if I did, it was right before the NCAA tournament. I was just like, ‘Enjoy it. It goes so fast. The days are long, but the years are short.’ And that’s really how it is where you look up and you’re just trying to grind and get to where you go. And then you look up and you’re 10 years in and you’re 15 years in, you’re 16 years in. So, I just said, ‘Enjoy it. This is a game. This is a game of basketball that we all picked up because we loved it. So, you’ve got to play that.’

The mental element of basketball is what’s the hardest to master. I’m sure a lot of you caught her game last night. I mean, she’s adjusting really well. And I think after the Olympic break with a little bit of rest, the young core that Indiana has, it’s great. It’s hard to have the bullseye on your back, not just from the standpoint of everybody looking at you, but also as a teammate trying; it is a team sport, so you’re the one that always constantly has to remind people like, ‘Hey Aliyah [Boston], set that screen.’ It’s difficult and people have different feelings about it. So, it’s a hard weight, hard burden to carry, but she’s doing a great job.

Tell me about your 2015 WNBA championship. Sade says, “never as good as the first time.” Would you agree with that?

That was a long-awaited championship. It was a difficult year. Pat passed away. I got cut from the Olympic team. I was going through a divorce. That year in itself, it’s crazy to not really think about basketball and that was my first championship. But the team and the group that we did it with was so special. I read this book, ‘Chop Wood Carry Water.’ We use this analogy all year about golf balls. Initially they were smooth and they realized that as they hit them more and they got chipped and dented and all these things, they actually traveled better and they were more accurate.

That’s what I used for our team because we had so many people that were chipped and bruised and battered and put down by the league and cut from the Olympics and told that they weren’t anything. All of us came together and we traveled further because of it. That was such a special team, just what we battled through, what we fought through. So that one was super-special. It’s hard to put it in a place of favorite championships, but that championship was so special.

What were your emotions after winning that championship at the buzzer in a deciding Game 5?

It was a one-point game. It was a last-second bucket off of rebound putback in Game 5. So, it was to the wire. I just remember thinking about Pat because Pat always talked about rebounding. She always told me, ‘Offense sells tickets, defense wins games, rebounding wins championships.’ And we won on a rebounding play, which is like Pat, right? She had just passed. So immediately after we won the championship, I was like thinking about Pat and just thinking about all she’s brought to me and how she was 100-percent watching us win.

You have two gold medals. What do they mean to you and what do you think about this collection of talent going to Paris?

The Olympics is something that is so special. As a kid, you dream of playing in the Olympics and you dream of standing on that podium and hearing the national anthem played. It is super special because America is so great at basketball. I say all that not to brag of women’s basketball, but we’re going for our eighth-straight gold medal. And honestly, I’ve said this time and time again, we could field three teams and we would win gold, silver, and bronze. That’s how dominant women’s basketball is.

It’s super special to see and it’s super special when you get that call that you are one of 12 because you are one of 12 of the greatest in the world in basketball. Just to wish this group all the luck — I’ve played with some of them, some of them are my teammates, some first-timers, some multiple — but I just wish them luck. And I again say take it in, enjoy the experience. Understand that this is phenomenal. Hopefully my son and my daughter are going to show my gold medals to their great-grandkids and they’re going to be like, ‘My mom was…’

Lailaa [Williams] could care less. At three years old, I’m getting ready to take her to preschool and I lift up her backpack and I’m like, ‘Man, it’s a little heavy.’ This girl put my Olympic medal in her backpack and was going to take it for show and tell at school. And she comes out, ‘We won.’ I’m like, ‘No, I won. You’re going to take the medal to school. What are we doing? Show and tell?’ ”

How do you feel about the future of women’s basketball?

I feel that the talent level and skill level is amazing. Where I worry is are we handing over the keys to the Ferrari? Are you giving your kid a Ferrari when they first start driving? That’s the thing I worry about because I think sometimes that can take some of the passion away. I think we’re getting everything that we should get and more. We deserve more. For the future of the game, the only thing I’m a little concerned about is the expansion. Because we saw in the nineties with [the NBA with] Michael [Jordan], when you expand a little too fast sometimes the talent gets diluted.

There’s only so many stars that are going to carry the torch. There are only so many stars that are going to carry franchises. Are there going to be enough stars to carry the franchises that we’re expanding to in the next three or four years? That’s the only concern I have. I don’t doubt the role players. But it takes a lot to be a star and carry a franchise. So that’s the only thing I think in the future. But in terms of little hoopers that are growing up playing, I think trainers are great. But I love seeing when I pull up at the gym, seeing girls just play pickup. That is where you really learn. And so being able to see that now, and I think it’s super special for women’s basketball.

Speaking about girls playing pickup, you got to help the late Kobe Bryant’s 7-year-old daughter, Bianka Bella, with her shot the other day. What did he mean to you and what is that like working with her?

It’s crazy. Do you know how you see kids and they have triceps and long arms. And she grabbed the ball initially and what threw me was she loaded her wrist and I was like, this is wild. She loaded her wrist under the ball. Most kids, you have your wrist like that. But it means a lot to me that Vanessa [Bryant] is still so connected to the game of basketball. That’s the thing I take is that she’s not running from the game. She wants her daughters to be a part of it and to understand the legacy that they come from, but also build their own, which I think is cool.

I had the opportunity to work out with Kobe and do footwork and build. He called it ‘Build your House.’ And so, it was cool to be able to be a part of that with Bianka and to see how naturally gifted she is. So, anything they need, Kobe has meant so much to the game of basketball and women’s basketball.

Before everybody was watching, he was sitting courtside at Staples Center, he was wearing the orange sweatshirt. So, he has a lot to do with the growth [of the WNBA]. And so, anything that I can do to help them, I mean they’re a special part of my heart and my family and my basketball journey.

Before social media got hot and everything, you had your own shoe. How did you do it? What was the key for you being able to get ahead of that, which now we’re talking about people finally getting signature shoes. How did you get ahead?

It’s thinking without tunnel vision. I think a lot of times we put limitations on what something could be. Boys won’t wear women’s shoes. They won’t wear women’s jerseys. And it’s like my brother played 10 years in the NBA and my nephew wore my jersey to school for ‘Jersey Day.’ That’s what it was. I think it was dreaming without limitations of what I can be. And that’s how I grew up in my household.

My parents were like, ‘You’re an athlete, that’s what you do. You’re a hooper.’ And so, I dreamed of having a shoe because why not? And I dreamed of being on the cover of a video game and I dreamed of all these things. Then when it became time to do it, it wasn’t so crazy. I have an amazing team that dreamed with me and executed and put things in place and I’m super grateful for my team and my partners and my family for making that come to life. That dream come to life was super surreal. It was cool.

My brother tells a story about the video game. He’s like, ‘We used to unplug your remote and you couldn’t play the video game and now you’re on a video game.’ And so, it was just all full circle and super cool.