Tag: Candace Parker

Shaq walked off set after seeing this hilarious NBA 2K simulation between him and Candace Parker

“He too little!”

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most dominant players in NBA history. His NBA on TNT co-analyst Candace Parker is one of the most dominant players in WNBA history. So TNT producers had the brilliant idea of pitting the two against each other in a simulated game of NBA 2K.

They put five Shaqs on one team and five Parkers on the other, and let them have at each other in a game to 21. And what came from it is honestly one of the most hilarious segments on a show that regularly produces a lot of laughs.

Team Diesel had a long day.

 

It started with Shaq bricking a three and went downhill from there for the big guy. Parker had simulated Shaq touching the ground on crossovers and was splashing stepback threes in the Big Aristotle’s face. But it wasn’t until virtual 6-foot-4 Parker dunked on the seven-footer’s avatar that real-life Shaq had to walk off set.

“He too little!”

This was just art. Everything about it. From the actual footage to Parker’s avatar “eating” after a dunk that put Shaq on his butt to her and Dwyane Wade’s instigating his annoyance afterwards. It obviously wouldn’t go like that in real life, and everybody knows it. But the fact Shaq still had the competitive desire to dominate in a video game simulation and it not go exactly how he’d imagine is just funny.

My guess is the game ratings were juiced a tad to make it more interesting. Because, number one, Shaq ain’t pulling up from three on a crossover. And we don’t even need to get into what Parker was doing. But it made for great TV, so I’m glad they did it.

[listicle id=1863616]

[mm-video type=video id=01fzdfzgafz7bx180aa7 playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fzdfzgafz7bx180aa7/01fzdfzgafz7bx180aa7-2cf8be53be79a8400d73c2c4e593674d.jpg]

Q&A: Candace Parker talks about her new Title IX documentary, parenthood and equity in sports

Candace Parker’s new documentary debuts the weekend of the men’s Final Four.

Sometimes, one dream leads to another. And sometimes those new dreams are built on the backs of those who came before them.

That’s becoming the life of WNBA superstar Candace Parker. In 14 years as a player with the Los Angeles Sparks and Chicago Sky, she’s more than lived out her dream of being a basketball player — she’s literally one of the all-time greats. Her career accomplishments include two WNBA MVPs, two Olympic gold medals, a defensive player of the year and rookie of the year award, two college national championships, and after helping Chicago win the title last season, two WNBA championships. The list goes on.

But now she’s also a budding star as a studio analyst for Turner Sports, where she signed a multi-year extension in September.

It’s an opportunity she called “a dream.”

It’s also keeping Parker busy this time of year. She’s in the thick of March Madness, covering the NCAA men’s basketball tournament across Turner’s family of networks. This comes a month after she and wife Anna Petrakova welcomed to the world their first child together. In two weeks, she’ll introduce another baby to the world; the very first film from her production company, Baby Hair Productions, in association with Turner Sports and Scout Productions. Titled “37 Words,” the film is a feature-length documentary that will “chronicle and celebrate the societal and cultural impact of Title IX, anchored through the perspective of Parker,” according to a press release.

Oh, and the WNBA season starts in less than two months.

It’s not lost on Parker that her impressive portfolio may not have been possible without the 37 words tucked inside the 1972 education amendments that make up Title IX. The law prevents discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs and activities. And though there’s still a way to go to create true equity across genders, as highlighted by the discrepancies between the 2021 men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, there’s no denying progress has been made. That’s the story Parker wants to highlight, she told For The Win in an interview that took place just before the start of this year’s tournaments.

Candace Parker makes NCAA Tournament prediction for Tennessee

Former Lady Vol Candace Parker makes NCAA Tournament prediction for Tennessee.

Former Lady Vol Candace Parker announced her NCAA Tournament predictions Tuesday.

The Lady Vols (23-9) are a No. 4 seed in the Wichita region. Tennessee will host No. 13 Buffalo (25-8) at 3 p.m. EDT Saturday. The game will be televised by ABC.

Parker has the Lady Vols defeating Buffalo in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Knoxville.

The former Lady Vol has Tennessee defeating Oregon in a second round contest at Thompson-Boling Arena.

Parker has Tennessee losing to Louisville in a Sweet 16 matchup.

She has South Carolina, Baylor, Texas and Kentucky in the Final Four with the Gamecocks winning the national championship.

Parker’s full bracket can be viewed here.

Brackets: Fill out your NCAA Tournament bracket here!

[pickup_prop id=”21734″]

[vertical-gallery id=31959]

Shaq hilariously bricked a bunch of 3-pointers on ‘Inside the NBA’ while trying to prove Candace Parker he could shoot

We can’t call him Shaqovic anymore.

Shaquille O’Neal was obviously one of the most dominant NBA players we’ve ever seen in his prime. I don’t know if anyone had a more devastating drop step move than him. That was his go-to on his way to 4 championships.

You know what wasn’t his go-to, though? Shooting. Shooting of any kind. Free throw shooting, shooting from midrange, shooting from deep range. None of it. Shaq just wasn’t a shooter at all.

But, despite that being the case, Shaq said he’d never shoot as badly as 1-13 from 3-point range if he had LeBron James kicking the ball out to him. Never.

“Listen. I’m not a shooter, but I’m not going to go 1-13. Guarantee you that. Wide open, nobody guarding me? I’m not going to go 1-13.” 

Candace Parker challenged him on that. “At the 3-point line, you’re not going to go 1-13?” Of course, this ended with Shaq demanding the ball. He had to prove her wrong.

And, ultimately…he did? Though it definitely didn’t look pretty.

Alright, so 1-8 is pretty bad. Definitely not a “Shaqovic” worthy performance to say the least. But it’s also not 1-13! NBA fans had a blast with this one.

Candace Parker perfectly guessed Steph Curry’s 50-point game against the Hawks and NBA fans were in awe

Candace Parker is the absolute best analyst we have

Candace Parker is just phenomenal all around. There’s not really any other way to describe her.

She just won her second championship with the Chicago Sky last month. And when she’s not dominating the WNBA, she’s busy being the best basketball analyst in the world — period.

We’ve seen it over and over again through her time on NBA on TNT. She’s had moments where she’s absolutely schooled the crew on the game, including this one with Shaq.

She showed us just how good she is, once again, with a perfect prediction of how Steph Curry’s game against the Hawks would turn out.

Parker said Curry was going to score 50-points against the Hawks. Why? Because “anytime you play against a young protégé you gotta let em know.”

Say word. And what did Steph do? Dropped 50. With 10 assists and 7 rebounds.

Parker absolutely called this. Fans had to give her her props.

Candace Parker’s emotional moment with her daughter after winning WNBA title was so awesome

What a moment for Candace Parker and her daughter.

Candace Parker closed out her first season with her hometown team in style on Sunday as she helped lead the Chicago Sky to their first WNBA title in franchise history with a 80-74 victory over the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday.

Allie Quigley scored 26 points to lead Chicago while Parker had 16 points, 13 rebounds and five assists for Sky, who won the series 3-1.

Parker was emotional down the stretch and could be seen tearing up in the final 10 seconds as the home crowd went nuts and started celebrating. This video right here is pretty darn cool and shows just how much this meant to Parker:

But this moment after the game was even better, as Parker found her daughter, Lailaa, and the two celebrated the win:

Twitter loved it:

Candace Parker gave an emotional shoutout to Pat Summit after leading the Chicago Sky to the WNBA Finals

I’m not crying, you’re crying.

For the first time since 2014 the Chicago Sky are heading back to the WNBA Finals.

They beat the Connecticut Sun — WNBA’s #1 overall seed — in four games to advance through the semis. Parker, obviously, was a huge part of that run.

Eight months ago we found out Candace Parker was leaving the Los Angeles Sparks — the only team she’d ever played for in the WNBA — for her hometown Chicago Sky.

Eight months later, here she is going to the Finals with her new team.

She was asked about that journey after the game and talked about the ups and the downs the team had been through with injuries all season long.

But she didn’t really get emotional until she started talking about her former coach, Pat Summitt.

The former Tennessee Volunteers coach passed away in 2016. Parker said everything she does on the court is in her honor and visibly got choked up during the postgame interview.

“This team is special. We’ve battled through adversity; we believed in each other. I want to always bring honor to Pat [Summitt]. In these moments, I always remember her.” 

What a moment. Summitt would certainly be proud of Parker in this moment doing what she’s doing for her hometown.

She’s still got another step to take, though. The Finals are waiting. We’ll see how things turn out.

Watch our sneaker unboxing series, Special Delivery 

Two former Lady Vols named to WNBA W25 team

Two former Lady Vols named to WNBA W25 team.

The WNBA is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and as part of its milestone season the league has released its W25 team.

The squad is comprised of the league’s top 25 players throughout WNBA history.

Two former University of Tennessee players were named to the team. The former Lady Vols on the team are Tamika Catchings and Candace Parker.

Catchings was recently inducted to the Naismith Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville. She works in the front office for the Indiana Fever after a 15-year career in the WNBA.

Catchings earned all-league honors 12 times, was a five-time Defensive Player of the Year and a 10-time all-star. She was the league’s most valuable player in 2011. Catchings won a WNBA championship and a WNBA Finals MVP.

Parker is still active in the WNBA. She plays for the Chicago Sky and was named to the 2021 all-star team.

Parker was the WNBA Finals MVP in 2016 and is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. She was named both MVP and Rookie of the Year in 2008.

[vertical-gallery id=31959]

Candace Parker named WNBA All-Star

Former Lady Vol Candace Parker named WNBA All-Star.

Former Lady Vol Candace Parker was named to her sixth WNBA All-Star game.

The game will be played July 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The WNBA All-Stars will play the USA basketball’s women’s team. ESPN will televise the matchup.

Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. EDT.

Parker, a post player for the Chicago Sky, is in the midst of her 13th WNBA season. She has won a championship and the league’s Most Valuable Player twice.

Parker is the only player in the WNBA to be named MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season, accomplishing the feat in 2008.

She previously played for the Los Angeles Sparks from 2008-20.

Parker also played professionally overseas between 2010-18.

[vertical-gallery id=31959]

Candace Parker hilariously called out Shaq after he found out she won Defensive Player of the Year

“Take the surprise out your voice, Shaq.”

Candace Parker has become one of the best basketball analysts out there. Her work on Inside the NBA makes that clear.

Don’t get it twisted, though — she’s still one of the best players in the sport, her work behind the desk aside. She’s a WNBA superstar and a certified bucket. She’s also the league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year.

Apparently, Shaquille O’Neal didn’t know that about his co-host. Adam Lefkoe called her the reigning Defensive Player of the Year and Shaq sounded surprised by it.

He asked, “You were defensive player of the year?” to which Parker responded, “Take that surprise out your voice, Shaq.”

It was incredible.

She had to check him again. Dwyane Wade got a good laugh out of it.

https://twitter.com/DwyaneWade/status/1374588321775558660?s=20

What a moment. Shaq should get to know his teammate a bit better.

[mm-video type=video id=01f1gfe0b9an6y2nqr playlist_id=01f09p3bf720d8rg02 player_id=01evcfkb10bw5a3nky image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f1gfe0b9an6y2nqr/01f1gfe0b9an6y2nqr-30237ab8da71f0e81ac755de0e4439d2.jpg]