CHICAGO — A legacy always stands stronger when it’s cemented at home.
Candace Parker proved that point four years ago when she brought a first-time WNBA title to Chicago in her first season with her hometown team. And on Monday night, the Chicago Sky commemorated the significance of Parker’s impact with a jersey retirement ceremony during halftime of a game against the Las Vegas Aces.
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Parker became the second Sky player to have her jersey retired after stepping away from the game in 2024. She retired a two-time MVP, seven-time All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist and three-time WNBA champion after clinching titles with the Los Angeles Sparks, the Sky and the Aces. The Sparks retired Parker’s jersey earlier this season.
“It’s super special,” Parker said ahead of Monday’s game. “I’m grateful to join that crew and it’ll be really cool to bring my grandkids back and be like, ‘You know your grandma could hoop.’”
Monday’s festivities highlighted the impact that Parker made in Chicago and in women’s basketball. Celebrities like Jennifer Hudson and Common made courtside appearances for the game. Fans donned T-shirts decked out in depictions of Parker and offered up a standing ovation when she took the court at halftime with her wife Anna, daughter Lailaa and son Airr.
Former teammate and current Phoenix Mercury star Kahleah Copper flew in on an off day to deliver a speech during the halftime ceremony.
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“Legend, champ, game changer, icon, leader, GOAT — that’s how I describe you,” Copper said. “You gave this game everything. Your time. Your body. Your heart. You didn’t just play the game. You set records, you broke barriers and you left a mark that stats can’t fully compare. I’m living proof.”
Few players impacted the style of play in the WNBA more than Parker, who revolutionized the concept of the stretch-4 in the women’s game.
Parker brought a unique blend to the court, throwing down dunks and slinging 3-pointers with a versatility that was well-matched for the league’s shift toward the perimeter. Over a 16-year stretch in the league, she forged a new mold for power forwards that has since produced top stars like A’ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier.
Most of Parker’s career was defined by firsts — the first girl to dunk in a high school game in Illinois, the first woman to dunk in the NCAA tournament, the first WNBA player to win MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.
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Parker drew anticipation at every juncture of her career. When she announced her commitment to Tennessee in 2003, she became the first woman to have her college decision televised nationally. Four years later, she was an automatic No. 1 overall draft pick for the Los Angeles Sparks.
Although Parker was destined for dominance on the court, the path toward basketball stardom was unclear as a young hooper in Naperville. Parker turned 10 years old in 1996, a pivotal year that marked the inaugural season of the WNBA. She didn’t grow up going to Sky games because the franchise wasn’t brought to Chicago until 2006, two years after Parker had left for Knoxville.
Even in her senior year of high school, Parker wavered publicly on whether she would play professionally after college. The league was young. The sport was changing. For even the most elite players, the dream of becoming a professional women’s basketball player was still just that — a dream.
That didn’t stop those around Parker from believing in her future. In her junior year of high school, Naperville Central basketball coach Andy Nussbaum played an April Fool’s Day prank by announcing over the school PA system that Parker planned to forego her high school eligibility to sign with the New York Liberty. Nussbaum found the joke took a while to land because much of the student body accepted the statement as fully believable.
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For Parker, the output always matched the hype. She won a pair of state titles with Naperville Central before heading to Tennessee, where she won consecutive titles under Pat Summitt before giving up her final year of eligibility to prepare for the 2008 Olympics. In her first year as a professional, Parker won an Olympic gold medal, Rookie of the Year and MVP — all while pregnant with her daughter Lailaa, who was born in May 2009.
Over the next 12 years, Parker carved out a dominant role in Los Angeles despite longstanding dysfunction within the Sparks, finally leading the franchise to a title in 2016. She won Defensive Player of the Year in her final season with the Sparks in 2020, capping off a 13-year tenure with the team where she was drafted.
Parker came to Chicago in 2021 with a mission: bring home a WNBA championship. Despite finishing the regular season with a .500 record, Parker helped to power the Sky to an underdog run as a No. 6 seed. The next year, Parker anchored a Sky team that finished with a franchise-best 26-10 regular season.
Although she ultimately played fewer than 80 games in a Sky jersey, Parker’s selection for jersey retirement reflects the impact she made by lifting the franchise to its first title. She averaged 13.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.1 blocks over two seasons in Chicago, earning two All-Star selections and one All-WNBA first team selection.
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Parker finished her career in Las Vegas, where she won a third and final title in 2023 while sidelined with a foot injury. The lingering effects of that injury ultimately resulted in Parker’s retirement after a year-long attempt to return to the game.
This is a pivotal year in commemoration for the Sky, who retired the jersey of long-time sharpshooter Allie Quigley last month. Parker and Quigley composed two pillars at the heart of the 2021 championship team. Point guard Courtney Vandersloot — who returned to the Sky this season — will unquestionably join the pair in the rafters upon her own retirement at some point in the future.
For now, the jerseys of Quigley and Parker will symbolize mirrored legacies in the Sky’s 20-year history — a pair of local stars who set a standard for success in Chicago women’s hoops.
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