When Cheyenne Parker-Tyus gets home from work, she breastfeeds her 3-month-old son, Yoshua, while pumping breastmilk for him to have later. She also makes sure she’s eating and drinking enough to prevent dehydration while keeping milk production up. Along with her husband, Keevin, she also has to tend to her 3-year-old daughter, Naomi, and does this all while only getting five or six hours of sleep a night.
It’s a familiar juggling routine for any mom working outside the home, but Parker-Tyus’ job is a little different from most mothers. Now in her 11th season in the WNBA, Parker-Tyus is a forward for the Las Vegas Aces as the team tries to win its third championship in four years.
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“I was just walking in the gym this morning, thinking about it, reflecting,” she said. “I can’t even believe I’m here and just with my team and in the Finals for the first time in my career, so, like, just to be here, yeah, it’s surreal.”
Yoshua was born on July 1, and Parker-Tyus played in her first game of the 2025 season on September 9. She said she treated her pregnancy as an injury in that she needed to strictly follow recovery guidelines to make sure she could get back on the court this season. She worked out as much as she could while still pregnant, and then returned to full workouts six weeks after giving birth.
“I had to really make sure I kept that pro mentality of getting up in the morning, even though I’m tired, making sure I’m doing meal prepping and still taking care of my body, getting my workouts, just to make sure that this is still what I want,” Parker-Tyus said.
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Parker-Tyus was drafted in the first round, fifth overall, by the Chicago Sky in 2015. She played six seasons for the Sky, then signed with Atlanta in 2021, the same year she had Naomi. She was an All-Star in 2023, and signed with the Aces earlier this year.
She said the support from her team has been strong from the beginning, pointing out Kierstan Bell as one of her kids’ favorites.
“She picked Yosh up every time I bring him around. I can’t have my own child!” Parker-Tyus said with a laugh. “But they’ve been great. They’ve been really cool. They are all, loving them down. There’s nothing like a baby to bring joy. I’m thankful to be able to do that for my teammates.”
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Parker-Tyus is one of a few mothers who have had two children and returned to play in the WNBA. Dearica Hamby, an All-Star with the Los Angeles Sparks and the mother of Amaya and Legend, reached out to Parker-Tyus amid her second pregnancy.
“The one thing that I always remember her telling me when I was pregnant was, you get better after your second one,” Parker-Tyus said. “I was taken aback by it, but I was also encouraged at the same time, because I was worried. You have all those worries and anxiousness when you’re pregnant. How am I gonna bounce back? And there’s a lot of fear that comes with it, but it was a lot of determination. So I think that helped fuel my comeback.”
Parker-Tyus said another part of what pushed her was the nature of the team she’s playing on. The Aces struggled for much of the season before finding their rhythm in late July and going on a 16-game win streak to end the regular season. When the Aces weren’t winning and she was at home, waiting for her overdue baby to make his appearance, she wanted to get out there even more.
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Parker-Tyus has played in eight games this season, including five postseason games. She’s averaging just seven minutes per game. But when her team needs her, she’ll be ready as she tries to win the first championship of her WNBA career.
“They’re just special,” she said of her team. “From the beginning, even when we were struggling, I still believed in our abilities and capabilities and that we would be in this moment. And I think everyone did, even though it was so much hardship and just adversity, but that’s a part of the journey. When you embrace hardship and go through adversity, the only way is up.”
