UNCASVILLE, Conn. — If Candace Parker could thank a body part for making her a Hall of Famer, it would be her brain.
Parker remembers sitting with her dad at 6 or 7 years old, breaking down defenses.
In addition to her versatile skill set and physical gifts, Parker’s ability to see ahead and read the game made her great.
Elena Delle Donne, another Sky legend being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, could only describe playing against Parker as a “headache.”
“You had to pressure her because you didn’t want her to see the floor and find her teammates,” she said. “But when you pressure her, she could put it on the floor and go by you.”
Parker keeps flexing her basketball IQ as an analyst in retirement, now calling WNBA games for Prime Video.
So it was notable that, when asked about the Sky on Friday, she saw reason for optimism in the 12th-place team. She pointed out that they have already surpassed last year’s win total with 10 games remaining and that their young core has potential.
“The way they started the season 3-1 — it showed,” she said. “Rickea [Jackson] is that type of player that you can build a franchise around. I think [Kamilla] Cardoso is doing a great job of being dominant in the paint. I think she’s playing better too now that [Courtney] Vandersloot’s back and able to run the show again.”
Though the season has generally been a disappointment — the Sky will not meet their goal of making the playoffs — Parker has a point. More than either of the previous two seasons, this one has offered flashes of a model that could work.
There is an argument for giving coach Tyler Marsh, who has spent the season on the hot seat, a chance to run it back with a healthier group.
The thing about asking Parker to analyze the Sky, though, is that the brain is so deeply connected to the heart.
She will always have a soft spot for the franchise. She’s a Chicago-area kid who came home and led the Sky to their first championship in 2021.
She also has a soft spot for Marsh.
During her time with the Aces, Parker got to know a talented young player-development coach — and universally agreed-upon “great guy” — in Marsh. When Marsh later got the call to become the Sky’s head coach, Parker helped him look over the contract and nudged him to take it.
So it’s no surprise Parker empathizes with the tough hand he’s been dealt.
“Things happen you don’t have any control over,” Parker said. “You come in, you have to make a big trade. And then now this season, losing [Jackson to an ACL injury].”
By “big trade,” Parker was of course referring to the deal that sent three-time All-Star Angel Reese to the Dream right after Marsh had unlocked her as a playmaker.
The Sky will have a decision to make about Marsh at the end of the season. But their recurring question is bigger than coaching. It is whether the franchise has built the infrastructure needed to cultivate young stars — and keep them.
Will they be able to develop and retain Jackson? Or will they, as has happened so often, eventually “have to make a big trade”?
Fortunately for Parker, those questions are not hers to solve.
She’s accomplished just about all that women’s basketball has to offer: three WNBA championships, two MVPs and two Olympic gold medals. Now, on the eve of her Hall of Fame induction, she gets to look back on it all with a little disbelief.
“I don’t think anybody picks up a ball like, ‘I’m gonna be a Hall of Famer,’ I’ll be honest,” she said. “But as you start winning and you see that your heroes all have that orange jacket. To be able to get the call and be in this group, it’s cool.”
Parker said her next project is another heady one: brainwashing her young sons into loving the game enough to chase orange jackets of their own.
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