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Candace Parker sends heartfelt message during LA Sparks jersey retirement ceremony

Chandler Vesselsby: Chandler Vessels06/29/25ChandlerVessels
candace parker
Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Candace Parker stood before a crowd Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, a position she had been in many times before. But this time she found herself with a microphone in her hand at midcourt of Cyrpto.com Arena moments before she would watch her jersey be raised to the rafters.

Parker played 13 seasons for the Sparks, winning a WNBA Championship with them in 2016, and became the third player in franchise history to have her jersey retired. In her address to the fans, she looked back on the very beginning of her career and the hope she had then for what it could be.

“As a kid from the Chicagoland, my idea of Hollywood was through basketball,” Parker began. “It wasn’t the glitz or the glam or the red carpets. It was the 80s, Kareem and Magic. The Showtime Lakers. It was the early 2000s back-to-back with smooth Lisa Leslie, DeLisha Milton-Jones and Michael Cooper. It was the Kobe and Shaq era of the threepeat in the early 2000s. It was “Love and Basketball,” because who didn’t want to be Monica Wright? LA was about ball.

“So in 2008 when the lottery was between Chicago and LA, a kid from the Chicagoland, I was a little partial. I wanted the balls to fall in LA’s court. I wanted to be out west. I wanted to be here with all the eyeballs, all the lights. Where there’s ginormous shoes to fill. But when I landed here, Michael Cooper, he said to me, ‘Stilt, if you win here you’re a champion forever.’ So there was one thing on my mind and we got that. We got that championship.”

Candace Parker immediately made her impact felt in the first season with the Sparks after leading Tennessee to back-to-back national championships in college. She won both Rookie of the Year and MVP and is still the only player in league history to do so.

The forward would later go on to win MVP for the second time during the 2013 season, won Defensive Player of the Year in 2020 and had seven All-Star appearances across her career. She is the only player in WNBA history to finish top 10 all-time in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.

Parker would return home to play for the Chicago Sky in the 2021, leading the team to a championship that season. She won a third title with the Las Vegas Aces in 2023, which was her only year with the team and her final WNBA season.

Candace Parker is also set to have her jersey retired by the Sky later this year, making her just the second player in league history to have her jersey retired by two franchises along with Lindsay Whalen. Days like Sunday are a reminder to her of the journey she’s been on, and while her playing career might be over, she believes there’s still a lot more for her to look forward to.

“It’s so interesting because I think moments like these are so nostalgic,” she said. “I remember being in the back with Smooth for your last game here at Staples. You looked at me and you told me, ‘Hey yo, it goes fast. Enjoy it.’ Now fast forward almost 20 years and we’re here. I think the thing that I’ve learned through all the ups and downs, wins and losses, injuries, difficulties, highlights, records — it’s about enjoying the process, enjoying the journey. I appreciate all of you all for making it special.

“…They say athletes have two deaths, one being when you career ends. But I look at it as two lives. It’s never easy to put the ball down and move away from your first love, but to simplify what I learned throughout my career here in LA, through basketball, through it all is what I’m gonna carry into the next phase of life, which is joy. I choose to enjoy the big and the small moments. So I’m grateful for those ping pong balls all the way back in 2008 putting me in the purple and gold. But I was wrong. LA isn’t just about ball for me anymore. It’s now where we call home and we will forever call home.”