Candace Parker
By Jen Banowetz
November 2025 View more Spotlight
What’s next for this Naperville basketball legend?
There’s a little piece of Naperville named after WNBA star Candace Parker: Candace Park Court at Spring-Field Park. It’s where, at age 5, she first really picked up a basketball, playing with her brothers. The first court where she beat her dad, one-on-one.
Parker went on to lead Naperville Central High School to two state basketball championships and the University of Tennessee to two national titles. She racked up heaps of accolades in the WNBA and won two Olympic gold medals.
Still, she has a soft spot for her hometown. “I’m super grateful for Naperville in general because it’s like the core of who I am, to be honest with you,” she says.
Since retiring from the WNBA last year, Parker has authored a book (aptly titled The Can-Do Mindset) and works as an NBA TV commentator. We caught up with Parker just after her jersey was retired by the Chicago Sky in August.
Q: What are some of the things you attribute to your success?
A: I think it’s “the want to.” Like, you know when you want to do something? You can manufacture it. It’s the want to. And I think it comes from how I was born. I was born the youngest and grew up idolizing two older brothers that were the best role models I could ever look up to. And when you have that at that young age, you’re looking up to people that really put the time in and really put the energy and effort, and the want to into it. And so I think it was just having a front row seat to that and then realizing that, if you work at it, and being competitive is never a bad thing, I don’t think. And so having a competitive household, I think kind of set me on track to want to try to be the best at whatever I do.
And so it’s really interesting in this household because my daughter isn’t the most competitive person. She’s just not really wired that way, which is fine, but it’s just so funny because sometimes we’ll be doing something, and she’ll be like, “You know, it’s not a competition.” And I’m like, “But it is, it is a competition.” She’s like, “No, it’s not, you don’t get a medal or anything.” If we’re in pottery class, I’m like, “They’re judging it at the end; I want ours to be the best.” And she’s like, “But who cares?” No, it’s judging. That’s been me forever.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring athletes?
A: I would say that the best thing to do is to understand that you are going to fail, and perfection is what you aspire to do, but you’ll never achieve it. And so I think you have to understand some days it’s gonna be an ugly mess. And also you’ve got to worry about yourself. And I mean you can’t worry about what everybody else thinks and feels. Game to game, practice to practice, we kind of get down on ourselves, but the mental element of achievement is so crucial, like what you believe, how you talk to yourself, the goals that you set for yourself.
A shorter way to say all that is you have to start your own engine. You can’t rely on somebody else to do it. And that comes in the form of doing things you don’t always want to do…but doing the things that you know you should, and the more you get in the habit of doing the things you don’t want to do, I think the better you are…I think that it’s super important to continue to stay after practice and do the not pretty things, because then that’ll eventually catch up and make you better.
Q: What’s your next big play?
A: That is the amazing question. I definitely still want to own a team. I want to be a part of an ownership group that owns a team, and I want to continue to lean into basketball in whatever way I can. I also want to continue to learn in business, the business of sport. And then also just being a mom. It’s the best thing ever.
Photo: Sean Haffey
