WNBA news: Chicago Sky to retire Candace Parker’s No. 3 jersey

CHICAGO (WLS) — The Chicago Sky plan to retire Candace Parker’s No. 3 jersey later this year.

The WNBA team made the announcement Wednesday.

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A jersey retirement ceremony will be held during the Sky’s game against the Las Vegas Aces on August 25 at Wintrust Arena.

“Growing up in Naperville, playing on courts around here with my brothers, and watching Chicago teams like the Bulls who became synonymous with winning, I never imagined one day my jersey would hang in the rafters of my hometown team,” Parker said in a statement. “Coming home to Chicago and helping bring the city its first WNBA championship here-it was personal. I’m beyond grateful to the city, the fans, and everyone who’s been part of my journey. Chicago raised me, and this will always be home.”

The all-time women’s basketball great announced her retirement from the WNBA last year, marking the end of a career for one of the sport’s best players and, for nearly two decades, one of the faces of the game.

Parker is one of the game’s most decorated athletes, having won NCAA titles at Tennessee in 2007 and 2008 before being selected No. 1 in the 2008 WNBA draft. She won championships with the Los Angeles Sparks (2016, Finals MVP), her hometown Chicago Sky (2021) and the Aces (2023) — becoming the first player in league history to clinch titles with three different franchises.

She was also a two-time league MVP (2008, 2013), a 10-time All-WNBA selection, a seven-time WNBA All-Star, a Defensive Player of the Year (2020) and a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2008, 2012).

Parker played 13 of her 16 WNBA seasons with the Sparks before the player out of Naperville, Illinois, signed with Chicago ahead of the 2021 season — a seismic move at the time in a league that had generally experienced little free agency movement. After two seasons with the Sky, Parker signed with the Aces.

Parker might have been one of the best scorers in league history — her five seasons averaging more than 20 points per game are tied for second all time — but her versatility as a forward with guard skills was the true trademark of her game.

She finished her WNBA career with 6,574 points (16.0 per game), 3,467 rebounds (8.5 per game), 1,634 assists (4.0 per game) and 619 blocks (1.5 per game) in 410 regular-season games — the only player in league history to rank top 10 in all of those categories.

Earlier in her career, Parker became the first WNBA player with multiple career triple-doubles and the first to dunk multiple times in the regular season.

Her fame began in high school, where she was the first girl to win the McDonald’s High School All American Dunk Contest. Her commitment to Tennessee was the first on ESPNews by a women’s player. After redshirting her freshman season because of a knee injury, Parker was a two-time Wooden Award winner and propelled the Lady Volunteers to back-to-back national titles — the program’s final championships under the late Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt.

For decades, Parker’s popularity has transcended beyond the court, from signing endorsements with Adidas and Gatorade fresh out of college, to producing a documentary on Title IX, to joining the ownership group for the NWSL’s Angel City FC, to becoming a well-respected NBA analyst for TNT and NBA TV.

ESPN contributed to this report.