Candace Parker is one of the most successful WNBA players in league history. She is the only player to be named Rookie of the Year and regular-season MVP in the same season, taking the league by storm in 2008. Many more successes followed after that first season, including a Finals MVP, the 2013 regular-season MVP, seven All-Star selections, the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year award, ten All-WNBA team selections, and three WNBA championships.
Parker is still the only WNBA player to win a championship with three different franchises. First, she helped lead the Sparks to a title in 2016. Then, she did the same with her hometown Sky. Both teams retired her jersey. Last but not least, Parker also won a title with the Aces in 2023. That last title was very different from the other two. For the first time, Parker wasn’t one of the most important players on the team, and she couldn’t play in the playoffs due to a foot injury. Nevertheless, Parker revealed on All The Smoke with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that it taught her just as much as the other two titles.
“The end of your career, I think, that really determines what you’re going to be,” Parker said. “Are you going to choose to be humble and honest in looking at yourself and what you’re capable of doing, or are you going to continue to live in this facade of what was? The Aces made me realize that I am so much more than basketball, but also made me realize that I’m not the Allen Iverson that can go play a role on the Detroit Pistons.”
She also added, “That was the aha moment where I was like, ‘A’ja is getting busy. She’s MVP. She’s got years to come. I want to help her grow in that way and be a support system’…I know people are going to question that championship because I was not on the court for that, but I think it taught me just as much as the other two championships. It taught me I’m okay in this life, I’m okay with what I have done to move forward with that mindset and it’s okay to leave that behind.”
2023 was Parker’s last season in the WNBA
Parker signed with the Aces in 2023, just two years removed from her championship with the Chicago Sky. The Aces had already won a title in 2022 behind strong play from A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray. Signing Parker in free agency added another superstar to an already strong core.
Parker only played 18 games due to a foot injury and averaged career lows all across the board with 9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in just over 23 minutes per game. While Parker started every game she was available for, she was not the focal point of the Aces’ system. Her average field-goal attempts dropped by around three shots per game and trailed Wilson, Plum, Young, and Gray by a significant margin.
Parker was 37 in her season with the Aces and had years of playing year-round basketball in the W, Russia, and China under her belt. After all that wear and tear, a drop-off was inevitable, and Parker left the game when she felt unable to play the same role she had had all her career. In February 2024, Parker signed another one-year contract with the Aces, but announced her retirement before the start of the season.