WNBA legend Candace Parker, 38, announces retirement and vows to own ‘both an NBA & WNBA team’

Three-time WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist Candace Parker announced her retirement in a lengthy social media post on Sunday after 16 seasons of professional basketball.

“I promised that I would never cheat on the game and that I would leave it in a better place than I came into it,” Parker wrote in part as the caption to an adorable photo of herself as a young girl holding a basketball on Instagram: Sunday. ‘The competitor in me always wants one more, but it’s time. My HEART and body knew it, but I had to give my mind time to accept it.”

Parker, 38, played her first thirteen seasons in the league with the Los Angeles Sparks, establishing her dominance early as a No. 1 pick who won Rookie of the Year and League MVP in the same season.

She was the first WNBA player to accomplish the feat, averaging 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists while helping the Sparks to a 10-win improvement in 2008.

Parker earned her second MVP award in 2013 and won her first title in 2016 with the Sparks. She would win a second title with the Chicago Sky in 2021 and a third with the Las Vegas Aces last season.

Parker ranks ninth all-time in points (6,574), seventh in assists (1,634) and third in rebounds (3,467)

Parker won Olympic gold medals with Team USA in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012

The power forward has a daughter, Lailaa, with Shelden Williams, whom she divorced in 2016

She is the only player in the history of the competition to become champion with three different teams.

“The memories Candace Parker created for a generation of female basketball fans will forever be etched in our collective conscience, but she gave so much more to the game than just her accolades and statistics,” the Aces said in a statement.

“As a teammate and mentor, mother and wife, baller, broadcaster and businesswoman, she has inspired countless young people, both boys and girls, to pursue and achieve their dreams.”

Parker ranks third in WNBA history in rebounds (3,467), fifth in blocks (619), seventh in assists (1,634) and ninth in points (6,574). She was a two-time NCAA champion and two-time Wooden Award winner at Tennessee.

In 2006, Parker became the first woman ever to dunk in an NCAA Tournament game. She won Olympic gold medals with Team USA in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.

Off the court, Parker is married to Russian professional basketball player Anna Petrakova. The couple shares a son, Airr, who was born in 2022. In December, Park announced that she and Petrakova were expecting another child. Parker was once married to former NBA player Shelden Williams from 2008 to 2016. The former couple share a daughter, Lailaa, who was born in 2009.