WNBA star Candace Parker announced her retirement Sunday after a record-setting, 16-year professional career in which she became the only player to win Rookie of the Year and league MVP in the same season.
The three-time league champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist revealed her decision in a post on Instagram, the Associated Press reported.
"The competitor in me always wants 1 more, but it's time," Parker, 38, wrote. "My HEART & body knew, but I needed to give my mind time to accept it."
The move came after Parker, who's undergone ten surgeries during her career, told AP in November that she hoped to play another season if she could recover from a foot injury that sidelined her during the 2023 season.
"I promised I'd never cheat the game & that I'd leave it in a better place than I came into it... I always wanted to walk off the court with no parade or tour, just privately with the ones I love," she wrote.
"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 played her first 13 seasons with the Los Angeles Sparks, winning her second MVP award in 2013 and her first championship in 2016.
In 2021, she won her second championship with the Chicago Sky and her third last year with the Las Vegas Aces, becoming the only WNBA player to score titles with three different teams.
The Aces said in a statement, "The memories Candace Parker created for a generation of women's basketball fans will remain ingrained in our collective conscience forever, but she has given so much more to the game beyond her accolades and statistics."
"As a teammate and mentor, a mother and wife, a baller, broadcaster, and businesswoman she has inspired countless young people, both boys and girls, to chase and achieve their dreams," the team added.
