Candace Parker at a Las Vegas Aces championship parade in 2023. Oct 23, 2023; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Las Vegas Aces forward/center Candace Parker (3) speaks during the Las Vegas Aces championship parade at Toshiba Plaza. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports
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There aren’t a lot of active players who are also high-level broadcast analysts, and there’s one fewer now. Candace Parker, who has been broadcasting NBA (mostly on the Tuesday night franchise) and NCAA Tournament games for the now-TNT Sports since 2018 while still playing in the WNBA, announced on Instagram Sunday she’s retiring as a player.

 

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Her team, the Las Vegas Aces, saluted her playing career on Twitter/X:

And many, including her broadcasting employers at TNT, saluted her remarkable playing career (college, Olympic, and pro):

Parker, who just turned 38 last week, has a lot to say in that Instagram post about why she’s making this decision now. WNBA training camps begin Sunday, so this is logical timing. But it’s notable that she wasn’t convinced it was time to hang her sneakers up after the Aces’ championship last fall. To that end, she said “While the competitor in me always wants 1 more, but it’s time. My HEART & body knew, but I needed to give my mind time to accept it.”

Parker also cited injury issues, saying “This offseason hasn’t been fun on a foot that isn’t cooperating.” And she said she didn’t want a retirement tour, just to walk off the court with her daughter (which she did after that championship). And while she may have wanted one more title, three is pretty, pretty good. And those championships all had some extra-special touches. In addition to helping the Aces to their second title last year, Parker was a key part of the Los Angeles Sparks’ most recent title in 2016, and her hometown Chicago Sky win their first one in 2021, with that latter one seeing her show some notable on-court emotion at the end:

While Parker may be exiting a playing role, she seems likely to remain heavily involved in sports on a media side, with that involvement perhaps even expanding. She says in her post that “I’m attacking business, private equity, ownership (I will own both a NBA & WNBA team), broadcasting, production, boardrooms, beach volleyball, dominoes (sorry babe it’s going to get more real) with the same intensity & focus I did basketball,” while also adding “Being a wife & mom still remains priority #1.” (Parker and wife Anna Petrakova, who she married in 2021, announced they’re expecting another child in December; they have a two-year-old son, and Parker has a 14-year-old daughter from a previous marriage.)  So she’ll certainly be busy.

On the broadcasting side, it’s unclear if Parker will take on more work there immediately after this retirement. She’s definitely already established, prominent, and busy with her NBA on TNT work. And that has seen her do some high-level game analyst work (including the All-Star Game this year) as well as studio work.

It certainly could be possible that Parker might join some WNBA coverage as well. And there are lots of options out there. NBA TV, which TNT Sports operates, has some WNBA games, and ESPN, CBS, Scripps Sports/ION, and Amazon/Prime Video all also have national deals, to say nothing of the local deals. And Parker is both a proven commentator and someone with incredible playing experience in women’s basketball. But she does also have a lot on her plate, including the aforementioned broadcasting and business moves, so we’ll see what happens there.

It is also notable that Parker mentions production as an area of increased focus for her. A couple years back, she launched her own production company, Baby Hair Productions. Its first effort was the Title IX: 37 Words That Changed America documentary (with Scout Productions and the then-Turner Sports, now TNT Sports), which premiered in 2022, and which she talked about being a huge passion project for her at the time:

 

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Parker told AA back then that she wanted to do more documentary projects, especially focused on empowering those whose voices haven’t been heard.

“I would love to continue to do impactful projects and provide a voice for those whose voices aren’t heard as much as they need to be. That’s going to be what Baby Hair Productions stands for going into the future. We’re going to create good content and hopefully give a lesson, but also leave you feeling like you know that person. I think that’s why we went with having the Title IX story told through my eyes, so you can really see that if Title IX didn’t exist, I wouldn’t exist. And how many women before me came and aren’t able to sit in the rooms that they want to sit in because of not having opportunities? So that’s what we’re going to continue to try to do through these pieces.”

Thus, it’s certainly notable to see her mention production as an area she intends to keep working in going forward. We’ll see what comes of that.

About Andrew Bucholtz

Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.

View all posts by Andrew Bucholtz