Nam Y. Huh / AP
Team Wilson’s Candace Parker, left, passes to the Las Vegas Aces’ Kelsey Plum during practice for the WNBA All-Star basketball game in Chicago, Saturday, July 9, 2022.
Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023 | 2:58 p.m.
Two-time WNBA champion and league MVP Candace Parker says she is signing with the defending champion Las Vegas Aces, the forward announced on social media today.
The seven-time All-Star took to Instagram to say that she is joining the Aces after spending the past two seasons with her hometown Chicago Sky, with whom she won a championship with in 2021.
"When I made the decision to go to Chicago in 2021, I made the decision to go home and be with my family in the place where it all began," Parker said on her post. "I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to win a championship in my hometown and parade down the same streets I watched the Bulls parade down as a young girl first falling in love with the game of basketball.
"After evaluating the landscape together with my family, we’ve decided the Las Vegas Aces are the right organization for us at this point in our lives."
Parker was voted as one of the WNBA's 25 greatest players last year as part of the W25, the league's initiative to honor its greatest players to commemorate the 25th anniversary.
Parker has averaged 16.4 points and 8.6 rebounds during her 15-year career. She spent the first 13 of those with the Los Angeles Sparks. She won Rookie of the Year with the Sparks in 2008 and won her first championship in 2016.
The addition of Parker comes a week after the Aces traded forward Dearica Hamby to Los Angeles, in which Hamby took to social media to accuse the Aces of bullying and manipulation while she was pregnant with her second child.
But the addition of Parker also adds another star-studded name to the Aces as they try to repeat as WNBA champions next season. Parker is expected to play either center or power forward alongside A'ja Wilson, last year's league MVP and Defensive Player of the Year.
"To play for a championship close to home is the perfect situation for us," Parker said. "I’m looking forward to continuing the journey this summer in Las Vegas."
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
