Candace Parker's legacy extends far beyond the basketball court

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Candace Parker announced her retirement from the game of basketball on Sunday. She shared the news quietly, with just an Instagram post saying she didn’t want to cheat the game she loved so much.

She is walking away from the sport at a time when women’s basketball is breaking records in attendance and ratings and the players are becoming household names. This moment in women’s basketball would not be here without everything Candace Parker contributed over the past two decades.

That list of contributions starts with everything she’s won, and that list is long.

Parker won Olympic gold medals with Team USA in 2008 and 2012. She was particularly impressive at the Olympic Games London 2012, scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in the U.S.' win over France in the gold medal game. She even had 10 blocks over the course of Team USA’s eight games.

Her impact in the WNBA started in her very first season. Parker won the MVP and the Rookie of the Year in 2008, and is still the only WNBA player to do so. She won the WNBA championships in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and her hometown of Chicago. The win in Chicago was particularly sweet, as Parker signed with the Sky with the hopes of bringing the city that taught her basketball a championship. Not only did she lead Chicago to a win, but she also taught her team and its fans how to celebrate, joining Chance the Rapper for a dance at the Sky’s championship rally.

Parker’s contributions included playing in the EuroLeague and the Chinese Women’s Basketball Association. In 2013, she won the EuroLeague and SuperCup with UMMC Ekaterinburg. She also played for Fenerbahce, the Xinjiang Tianshan Deers and the Guangdong Dolphins.

Candace Parker used her voice to help grow the game

Parker’s contributions on the court were important, but focusing just on how she played basketball misses so much of her career. As one of the league’s best-known players for much of her time on the court, she has used her voice to improve conditions for women’s basketball players.

In 2009, Parker gave birth to her daughter Lailaa Nicole and missed part of the WNBA season. She was still named to the All-WNBA team that year, returning to the court just 52 days after giving birth.

Though she was far from the first mother in the league, she vocally showed players who came after her that they can still play and have the lives they want. In 2020, the WNBA collective bargaining agreement included maternity leave with full pay. When players announced their pregnancies, Parker was often the first to contact them to offer advice and take questions.

For so long, WNBA teams have been far behind their NBA counterparts, and even many colleges, in terms of the facilities players practice in. While on a podcast hosted by NBA star Draymond Green in 2023, Parker talked about how when playing for Los Angeles and Chicago, she didn’t have a locker.

"I have not had a locker in my WNBA career. I've been in the WNBA for 16 years, and I have not had a locker where it has my name on it and I can leave my s* and then come back and know my s*****’s going to be there," she said.

The clip from this discussion went viral, kickstarting discussions about how elite women’s teams are treated differently from men. The Las Vegas Aces built a facility specifically for the team, complete with dedicated lockers. When she signed with the Aces in 2023 after two seasons in Chicago, it showed WNBA teams that investment matters. Since then, the Seattle Storm have also built a new facility, while the Sky have said that they are looking for a space to build a new spot for the team to train.

In 2018, she started working with TNT and TBS on NBA broadcasts, offering a smart and lively take on the games with NBA superstars like Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley. Her career moved to doing color commentary for games, as well. In 2023, she became the first woman to broadcast an NBA All-Star Game. In taking the broadcasting path, she showed WNBA players that they can add TV work in the offseason, and now players like Chiney Ogwumike and Aliyah Boston have followed in her footsteps.

Now, Parker has walked away on her own terms after giving so much to the game, staying true to herself in every step along the way.