Candace Parker grew up playing video games, and now she'll be the first female basketball player on the cover of one.
The Chicago Sky star will appear on the NBA 2K22 cover for the WNBA 25th Anniversary special edition when it's released Sept. 10.
"I grew up a video game fanatic, that's what I did, to the point where my brothers would give me the fake controller when I was younger where I think I was playing and I wasn’t," Parker said. “All I wanted to do was just be like them. As a kid growing up, you dream of having your own shoe and dream of being in a video game. Those are an athlete as a kid's dreams. To be able to experience that, I don’t take it lightly.”
Parker said that when she was just starting in the WNBA in 2008, she might not have appreciated it as much as she does now.
“I think when you're young and experience these type of things, you're onto the next thing,” she said. “As I've gotten older, I've really savored the moment.”
Parker joins an exclusive group of female athletes to adorn covers of sports games. Shawn Johnson was on a Gymnastics by Wii game in 2010, and Jelena Dokic was on a tennis game in the early 2000s.
“I think it's a benchmark of women's basketball for sure. I think most importantly it speaks to visibility and how important it is and how important the WNBA is,” Parker said. “Everyone is looking at it that it's impacting little girls, but it's also impacting little boys and young men and young women and men and women. I think our game is different than the NBA, now it's embracing that fact. Now more than ever, fans want to follow the athlete. Through social media, through video games, it's adding and benefitting the WNBA.”
The 35-year-old former MVP knows there were a lot of players who could have been the first and was humbled that she was the one they chose.
“It means a lot to me. I’m a fan of basketball. I eat, sleep and breathe basketball. I’m a historian within basketball. I am a fan of basketball. I commentate basketball. I play video games,” she said. “It was really the perfect storm because there are a lot of other people well deserving of this and I know that.”
Parker joins Luka Doncic, who was named cover athlete for the game's regular edition, and Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who were recognized as cover athletes for the NBA 75th Anniversary Edition.
“I think it’s a signal and a sign of the momentum around our players, our players’ story,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said. “Candace has been such a great representative of the league -- what she does in broadcast, what she does as a mom. I just think as a role model, I get chills just standing up here talking about her on that cover.”
While the WNBA will be on an Olympic break for the next month, Parker will be busy. The two-time Olympic gold medalist will be commentating the medal rounds at the Tokyo Games.
“I had an opportunity to go earlier, for me I wanted to be with my team as long as I can,” she said. “Wanted to do both, and this was a great opportunity to me. I remember Craig Sager interviewing me and it was unbelievable. The broadcast does amplify the game. To be a part of the experience of the Olympics, I'm really excited about.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
