Sports

Candace Parker on whether 2022 will be her last


On the eve of the start of her 15th season at the WNBA, two-time MVP and future Hall of Famer Candace Parker said she was considering retiring after the 2022 season.

Parker, 36, was asked by Kristen Ledlow on NBA TV’s “WNBA Weekly” if it would be her last season playing in the league.

“That’s how I got into the season,” Parker said. “I mean, I don’t know, I don’t know what the future holds. I know my contract expires after this year. And there will be decisions to be made.”

After signing with Chicago ahead of the 2021 season following her stellar career with the Los Angeles Sparks, Parker led Sky to the franchise’s first WNBA title, while also winning a second title. . Chicago continues its run into the 2022 campaign, with Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley and Finals MVP Kahleah Copper returning and the addition of Finals MVP 2019 Emma Meesseman for the season.

Parker said that, after the race for the 2021 championship, she was “ready and really thinking about” leaving.

“I’d like to play five, six more WNBA seasons if I can get an easy button to get in shape,” Parker said. It’s an easy button, that’s the point. “It’s about being in the studio, which I love, but then waking up in the morning and exercising before going on air. It’s travel. It’s the holiday season. So I thought the post. the first episode that I did at the end of October, I was like, ‘Yeah, I can actually retire.’ That’s how close I am.

Parker said her daughter Lailaa helped convince her otherwise, at least for another year.

Parker told Ledlow: “We were driving home from my daughter’s basketball practice and she said, ‘Mom, I think you should play another year. You know, run back.” And I don’t know, it’s just something about now my son [Airr, who was born in February] can go to games and watch his mom play and just my family can be there. It’s great being in Chicago, even outside of basketball, I love being able to go to my dad’s house and have dinner. My mom cooks for me, to meet my family and friends, my best friend from high school. I mean, it’s great to be back. “

Parker has been a legend in the game since her days in Tennessee, where she won consecutive national championships in 2007 and 2008. She also won two MVP titles while playing for Sparks (in 2008 and 2013) and helped lead them to a championship in 2016, the year she also won the Finals MVP.

Regardless of when exactly Parker decides to hang it up, it will sooner or later join legends like Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles. Fowles, 36, said it would be her final season in the WNBA, while Bird, 41, said 2022 could well be the season for her.

“I think at this point in my career over the last three or four years, I’ve been active in the present and understand the value of every day because there’s more basketball behind me than in front, and I realize figure it out,” Parker said. “I’m very excited about this trip.”



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