Candace Parker, queer WNBA legend, is retiring 'privately with the ones I love'
After winning two MVP titles, two NCAA championships, three WNBA championships, and two Olympic gold medals, Candace Parker has announced that she is retiring.
Parker, who is also a mom of two with her wife, Anna Petrakova, announced in an Instagram post over the weekend that she will not be returning after her final game in 2023.
“I promised I’d never cheat the game & that I’d leave it in a better place than I came into it. The competitor in me always wants 1 more, but it’s time," she wrote. "My HEART & body knew, but I needed to give my mind time to accept it. I always wanted to walk off the court with no parade or tour, just privately with the ones I love. What now was to be my last game, I walked off the court with my daughter. I ended the journey just as I started it, with her.”
Parker missed the second half of the 2023 season after undergoing surgery for a foot injury, marking the tenth surgery in her 16-year WNBA career. She continued to say that "this offseason hasn’t been fun on a foot that isn’t cooperating," and that she can't continue "playing in pain."
"It’s no fun hearing 'she isn’t the same' when I know why," Parker wrote. "It’s no fun accepting the fact you need surgery AGAIN."
Parker said that going forward, she'll be "attacking business, private equity, ownership (I will own both a NBA & WNBA team), broadcasting, production, boardrooms, beach volleyball, dominoes ... with the same intensity & focus I did basketball." She noted that "being a wife & mom still remains priority #1."
Parker married Petrakova in 2019, but only revealed their relationship publicly on their two-year anniversary when posting the wedding photos in honor of the milestone. She has one daughter, 14, from her previous marriage to NBA player Shelden Williams, and one son, 2, with Petrakova. Parker and Petrakova announced in December that they are expecting a second child together.
"I fell in love with a little orange ball at 13 years old and BECAUSE of it my world goes ‘round," Parker continued her announcement. "Today’s players: ENJOY IT. No matter how you prepare for it, you won’t be ready for the gap it leaves in your soul. Forgive me as I mourn a bit, but I’ll be back loving the game differently in a while."
