Candace Parker is all about relationships.
That’s a big part of why the 36-year-old signed with the Las Vegas Aces. Team president Nikki Fargas was an assistant coach at Tennessee when Parker played there, and she recruited Parker to play for the Vols. Parker’s wife played on the Russian national team with Becky Hammon. And Aces point guard Chelsea Gray and her wife are godparents to Parker’s son Airr.
The franchise also checks the box of being relatively close to family in Los Angeles for Parker’s 13-year-old daughter Lailaa. And of course, as a player, Parker was drawn to the defending champions.
“Las Vegas met all my needs from a basketball standpoint, and from a family standpoint as well,” she said Tuesday in her introductory press conference.
Parker signed with Las Vegas in free agency after playing two seasons for the Chicago Sky, with whom she won the 2021 title. Prior to that, Parker played 13 seasons for the Los Angeles Sparks, the franchise that drafted her first overall in 2008, winning a title in 2016.
In order to make room for Parker, a seven-time All-WNBA first-teamer, the Aces traded Dearica Hamby to the Sparks. The move garnered controversy when Hamby took to social media to make accusations against the…
