The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Good Follow - WNBA Legend Candace Parker Talks Expectations, Finding Fulfillment, Feeling Misunderstood & More

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Ros sits down with 3x WNBA Champion and 2x WNBA MVP Candace Parker to talk where she finds fulfillment, her relationship, and new podcast with Aliyah Boston, becoming an NBA analyst, reacting to Angel Reese backlash & more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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We do NBA All-Star. We do WNBA All-Star. So I'm excited to be here with you. I want to be very clear how big this is. Candice is really only here for a day and the entire schedule is stockpiled. And I said, hey girl, we're going to be in person. Do you have time?

She squeezed this moment out for us. So thank you so much. No, I appreciate you. And it means a lot to our family, good follow all the fans watching. I usually start off with like accolades and it's usually one sentence for our guests, but just real quick, a very short and summarized version

of all the things she is, you know who she is. Always awkward when this happens. Nah, I gotta do flowers. Do you look at the camera? Yeah. Do I look down? I don't know what to do. Ha ha. Sit back. Do I don't know.

Smile. You should shake your head. Yes, that's that is I. I did that. OK, she's a three time WNBA champion, a two time WNBA MVP. She's a seven time all star, seven time WNBA first team, two time NCAA champion, two time Olympic gold medalist. Yeah, this is not even close to all the accolades. I'm just trying to get the ones that are, you know, that get the people going.

After a 16 year hoop career. 16 years. Yes. Crazy. She just think people are going to know how old we are now. When I say 16 years, you know what? That's so crazy that you have gotten older because I am aging with grace. I mean, last time I checked, we did play against each other in 2008 for the championship and chip. So I'm our 2008. That's the 20 years. Sneak it up. I'm proud to be a part of your testimony.

No, but just to catch you up, she recently retired last year, right? And so in the meantime, y'all, and this is important for you to understand as we talk today, she is now in retirement, newly named the president of Adidas women's basketball, newly the author, the author of the book, The Can Do Mindset, NBA sports broadcaster, newly of Amazon. Thank you. Appreciate it. And a podcaster, we'll get to that, an entrepreneur, a mother of three.

I mean, did I get to everything kind of new that's happening right now or I missed something? And I'll tell you, the hardest job has been the mother of three, because whoever told me that going from two to three is the same as having two. Like, if you have two kids, you might as well have three or four. They lied. What's the difference? Well, there's only two of us and there's three of them.

My daughter's 16 and everybody's like, oh, she's self-sufficient. Like she's great, but she still has her life and things I have to get her to and show for her to because kids in LA wait till late to drive now. And so I'm still her Uber driver, you know. So it's um three kids is a lot, but I love it. So Candace Parker is driving the kids to like the next thing that they have to do. Okay, absolutely so honestly like How do you stay organized with everything? I just listed and I mean that very seriously like what is Candice's organization toolkit? Not only for organization, but wellness too

Well lots of Google calendars and color coordinated Google calendar. That's huge. But also, I think it's leaning on my family, my wife to make sure that everything is good where I'm not. And I'm super grateful for the team that's around me that helps me be where my feet are. I think that's the biggest thing in this phase of life. You feel guilty not being in places or not being at work when you're at home or vice versa. And so I've really tried to commit to being where my two feet are. Yeah. And you know, it's interesting

because you wear all these different new hats right now. But when we were playing ball, like, it's very tangible and easy. There's a game that you're playing on the court. You're trying to win it. There's going to be a stat sheet at the end to kind of evaluate how it went. Like now that you're retired, where do you get competitive edge from and fulfillment from now? Well, unfortunately for my family, I am still the same competitor as when I played. It's just I don't have the outlet in a game scenario, so now it's like dominoes, it's outside playing horse, it's volleyball with my daughter, it's, you know, if we're in the pool and like,

I don't know, we were shooting rings, you know, on the little hoop in the pool and I was like, I stayed there until I got it, like I just, yeah. So you can't take the competitor out of the girl. Like, it's just not OK. Doesn't matter. Even when you retire, you can't take it out. So you're just tormenting your family at home with like innocent games. No easy layups, no layups ever.

My son knows that, like he knows to look over his shoulder before he goes to the little tykes. Candice is having a dominoes tournament here tonight, and she's trying to get me to play. And this is exactly why I said that I don't feel comfortable playing because I don't really know the rules. Like I casually know.

And I have a feeling that I'll get yelled at and that you're gonna be hyper competitive. It gets really serious. I'm not gonna lie, it does. But I still think you should play. No, you pulled up for me, I'm gonna pull up for you. All right, bet. Period.

That's it. You recently announced a new podcast and it's post moves with you and Aaliyah Boston. So Aaliyah Boston, your star, three time all star, different generations. I know team Adidas, but I was just, as soon as I heard it, I was like, oh, okay, what's that relationship?

Why her? What can we expect from you two in this podcast? So interesting. I didn't know Aaliyah before the national championship game. And she took her moment when she was getting the national championship trophy, was on stage with Holly Rowe and looked at me and said, Hey girl, Candace Parker is here in one of the biggest moments of her entire career. So that's kind of like what set the stage for our relationship.

And that, you know, I was kind of the big sister. When it came time to sign her for Adidas, I was kind of the big sister. When it came time to sign her for Adidas, I was like, she's an absolute perfect fit for obviously the player and dominance that she brings on the court, but off the court, she is phenomenal. And so we've kind of gotten to know each other,

she's with my agent, so it's kind of like that. And then when this came about, it was just two generations seeing things from a different perspective. And I think that in the podcast space, it's important. You know, you have somebody that's the grit, the grind that's in it that's running up and down the court. And then you have me that's kind of removed from it that has done that.

But now is doing other things. And so the show is called Post Moves, obviously, because we're two posts and we do a lot of post moves, but it's also like post career moves. And what you do. Yeah, you see the play on Stanford. Come on, I'm trying to stay with you. Like you're moving, you're playing chess. I'm still in checkers mode right now. No, no, no.

But that's so cool because Aliyah is very like big picture thinking, very entrepreneurial. So this is going to be court and off court handling business on both sides. It's going to be about basketball, obviously, because that's the vehicle that I think takes us through life, but we're gonna talk about, you know, off the court stuff. We're gonna talk about news that pops up.

We're gonna talk about life. We're gonna talk about food and wine, which I am now, like, I'm a foodie. What kind of wine drinker are you? Oh, so I'm into Burgundies now. I was like Napa Cabs. I'll do a Pinot every now and again. Colgan is probably my favorite wine.

Actually just recently got a part of their wine club, which is unbelievable. And they, we ordered the 2008, 2007, because we won championships. And we did a 2016, 2021. And so in 2009 for my daughter, so we did that year for when she turns 21. So I'm just a big wine drinker and I really enjoy it. And so in 2009 for my daughter, so we did that year for when she turns 21.

So I'm just a big wine drinker and I really enjoy it. And I think it's what comes of those conversations. You know what I mean? Do you think you could start your own winery? A lot of people are getting into spirits and things like that. You know what I would love to do? I would love to go around and like be that

like Anthony Bourdain and try all of these things and like do the food and all that and do a history. Do you need a co-host? I'm already ready. I would love to do something like that. No, I'm serious. Like it would make me happy more so than, you know, starting something like that. Yeah.

And I think you have enough free time to do it. You can why not just start that right now? Yeah, just like that. Let's add that in. But no, that's very cool. I don't want you to judge me, but you want to know what my favorite wine is? Oh no. Yeah, just add that. Let's add that in. But no, that's very cool. I don't want you to judge me, but you want to know what my favorite wine is? Oh no.

Rose. Okay. A nice chill summer rose. Okay. I'm a vibe summer vibe girl. I thought you were going to say like barefoot Moscato or something and then I was going to. Listen, I also enjoy a sweet Moscato.

I'm one of the aunties. Okay. Oh no. But I do enjoy a cab. Okay. But people call me, I'm known in friend groups as Rosé Raze. I like that. Yes. Got a nice ring to it. Definitely has a nice ring to it. But to come back to the podcast, I mean, I will be sat. That sounds great. And you

know, it's cool because you're this legendary Hooper, but you're also in broadcasting and there's a sisterhood in that too. I actually think it's kind of tough sometimes to cover women's basketball as a broadcaster. And I've spoken with other ones. I feel like, you know, there's just so much critique. There's so much vitriol and sometimes like hate when you're just speaking candidly about the ups and downs of a player's career. I do. A few of us have talked about feeling pressure

from different player fan groups, all the things. And recently you've been, you had comments on Angel Reese and it went viral and like... It's so crazy because I didn't even know this. And then I like am on my Instagram and I see comments underneath. I think, and I know you're getting to this question. No, no, no, I was gonna say people were saying,

oh, you're an Angel Reese hater. And I'm like, first of all, I'll just let you answer. What's your response to that? No, I think my response is in no intention. I'm not a hater. I think it's just commenting on the player. I mean, that's what it comes down to is they asked me my opinion on player tears.

And my thing is, is then if you bring something to the argument, bring something else. Can she get to player A or player S or whatever? Yes, she can. Right now, I don't know if she's alongside those players in Bs and you're measuring her against players that have been in the league for years. And so I think that, you know, I've faced it

on the men's side when people attack you for what you look like or who you are that's usually not coming with a solid argument. And so I'm willing to debate. I love it. Be like, tell me I'm wrong, but bring facts to the table. And so that's the biggest thing. There's no hate on Angel Peace. I love her. She plays for the Chicago sky. I saw her at my Jersey retirement versus LA. So it's nothing like that. But I just, I think it's so interesting in this female space, the need to have to explain some of these things that you don't see.

Where, you know, we worked with the guys at Turner where they come on and they say stuff that's just so outlandish. I will never attack anybody's character. I will never attack who they are ever. And I just hope that others will do the same. Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like that others will do the same. Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like there has to be room in broadcasting

and talking about women's hoops, where you can objectively talk about, legitimately, in a objective and constructive way when someone is playing well and when they're not. That's literally our job, also to make an opinion over something and to project over time. And you bring in a legend because you respect the body of work and what they're not. That's literally our job. Also to make an opinion over something and to project over time. And you bring in a legend because you respect the body of work and what

they're saying. When I saw some of that feedback, I was like, this is crazy over a small sound bite. You know what's so crazy is that I'm going to be like Shaq and we'll be like, you're welcome, Angel. That's why you got five double doubles the last five games. She heard me. She manned up. Now she playing well. Look, cause that's me. No, I'm not that. Like, no, Angel is going to get her double double. She's been playing phenomenal.

She done hit them with the in out dribble and she's raised her level of play. And you want to see that jump from the first to the second year, which she has. And so, yeah, I think in this space, I feel like the need to have to explain myself, but I'm I don't. So like, it's fine. It's cool. But I think where we know we're going to be successful is we get to a place where it's sports and it's not not personal.

Hey, good follow show. I hope you're enjoying this incredible interview with the one and only Candace Parker, but we need to take a break. We'll be right back. ["Summer's Got Talent"] Nothing says summer like long days, clutch plays, and firing off a few bets on the game. All with Draft King Sportsbook. Never been on baseball before? It's easy. Just pick a guy to go yard,

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Draft Kings, The Crown is yours. Let's get back to the interview. And actually to come to the men's side, you are one of the rare few women that are analysts on NBA basketball. First of all, some commotion for our girl who is newly of the Amazon NBA team. Yay! So how do you prepare for these roles? And also how do you handle the spotlight of that? Both the good and the bad, you know, and that's you, that's Doris Burke. We're talking about at the highest levels, really, I mean, there's other women who have called,

but really two women. Am I wrong about that? You know, Cheryl Miller did an amazing job of calling games. I mean, obviously Debbie Antonelli does a great job of calling games. I think there are women outonelli does a great job of calling games. I think there are women out there. I'd like to see more opportunities.

I think the biggest thing is, is I wanna be a Hooper, Roz. You know, I never wanted to be one of the guys. I wanna be one of the players. And I've said that from the get-go. And I see the game differently than Isaiah Thomas, then Shaq, then D Wade, then Jamal Crawford. Like I see the game different than them in the way that we played, just because of the way that we played.

And so I think that there's value in those differences and there's values and it opens up for debate. But my thing is from Tennessee, I learned the more prepared you are, the more you're able to pivot and know the storyline. And so that was one thing I was really proud. This year was my first call of playoff games, and I was extremely prepared. And I think that's the hardest thing.

You can't undervalue that. Were you nervous? It's weird. It's almost like the first two minutes of the game, when you start running up and down the court and it doesn't matter how great of shape you're in, you're still out of breath. That's how it is.

That's how it is with, you know, with commentating. Then you get into the flow, you forget the moment and you just talk basketball. Yeah. When I think about the greatest and also kind of the way we've covered certain players in both NBA, WNBA, you got to talk about LeBron James. And I think about LeBron, this mega superstar that from youth, we knew of him. We were told he was going to be great. And then we watched his whole life under a magnifying glass.

And for the most part, LeBron not only lived up to the expectations, he did more. He did all of it. And honestly, when I think about like, what would be the female equivalent of that? It's you. And literally, Candice, like we knew you as the female young player in high school that were on the magazine covers. We knew your baby hairs. I'm from New York City. For whatever reason, because of you, I heard of Naperville, Illinois. We watched your dunks.

Everything that you were supposed to do, you did. You went to Tennessee and delivered championships to Pat Summit. You went on to be a number one draft pick. You won the rookie of the year. You won at every single level, girl. So on the like a woman's side, because we often praise LeBron for living with these expectations and delivering on the woman's side. Like, what has that been like for you living with those expectations and delivering on the woman's side. Like what has that been like for you living

with those expectations and meeting them and more? My parents always talked about like the bar and everybody else's expectations should never exceed your own. And I really value the upbringing that I had to be able to focus on the process and what's gonna get me there and not the noise that's around.

And so because of that, I do, I am a competitor. I wanna win and I wanna get in the gym and work on things that I'm not good at. And I also really do well when somebody tells me I can't. And so a lot of my motivation after achieving that unbelievable 2008 of winning Olympic gold medal, winning a national championship,

falling short of WMBA finals, but winning Rookie of the Year and MVP. I got pregnant after that year and I heard people say, like, you can't have a career and a family and be great at your craft like you were. And I just feel like I have a kid that's front row to this entire journey and I wanna show her, like, were. And I just feel like I have a kid that's front row to this entire journey. And I

want to show her like growth. I want to show her missteps. I want to show her, you know, the mistakes I've made have actually propelled me forward to really achieve the things I want to achieve. And so with that being said, I think it's, it's challenging to kind of, and especially in this day and age where there's a bunch of noise, it's challenging to keep your head down. And just like they say in kindergarten, like keep your eyes on your own paper. Like it gets difficult at times, but the more you do that and you just dive into your process,

all that other stuff, expectations, those are all just, it's just white noise. But were you aware of it as a kid in high school and then in college? I loved it. I loved it. I wanted to be the person that they yelled at in the away gyms. Like I wanted people to like come at me.

Like I liked getting the best of everybody. So to me in general, I think it was a privilege to be able to, you know, have that and to look back on high school and see the filled gyms and like to see the, you know, the little girls waiting after for autographs. I mean, like, I don't take that for granted. And I feel like it is a privilege.

Yeah, it's, it's historic. It's unique. It's really, when I think about it at that, for that timeframe and era and genre, it was LeBron. It was Sebastian Telfair. Sebastian. At that era, like the players that nationally and social media wasn't really a thing like that. So who did you know, even if you were in a different state coming up and you heard, but you heard about them.

Chicago Hoops. I mean, I know you're New York and you all have some good Hoopers. You all have some really, really good Hoopers. I remember how big Bassy was. It was a huge deal. Sebastian Telefair got his own. You were like that for the women. You know what I'm saying? It was a crazy time, because I think social media kind of dictates a lot now, whereas then you went and pulled up

and saw it for yourself live. And I think that there was beauty in that. Yes, could we have made a lot more money with social media being a part of our career? 100%. But I do think like the goodness of what sports was back then when people pulled up themselves and had to watch you play as opposed to being able to just see clips

on the internet or whatever. I think that was special as well. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so as we come to an end here, I was thinking about one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard you say, and I came to tears. It was after you won the championship in Chicago in 2021. Twenty one year you're tearing up and it's a postgame interview

and you talk about time will tell the story. You're like you don't have to always yell. I'm paraphrasing. You don't always have to yell from the rooftops who you are and what you do. Like sometimes you can let time tell the story. And God that resonated because, you know, sometimes in life you can feel like

you're not being seen the right way or you're being misunderstood or this isn't the way it was supposed to be or people are mistelling your story, whatever it is. And then here was this beautiful moment of you towards, more towards the end of your career, again, coming out on top. When you look back on it all, when did you feel the most maybe misunderstood in your career?

There was a middle period in, you know, the way that the world works is like first they love you, then they hate you, then they wait for what's next. And when you don't deliver and you're not winning, you're easily forgotten. You can go from the top of the mountain and lose a couple games. I mean, you look on the NBA side, like how many people are writing Giannis its a cupo off and it's just like wild to think

that they're writing him off. There's so many things that have to come to life to win a championship. It's not just one individual player. And so you get written off a lot and disrespected and especially when you're fighting to win a championship and it's constantly the same result of the last second shot or whatever.

And I went through those ups and downs in the middle of my career. And I would say, yeah, like once the hot rookie, you know, came in, did this, this and this, I won, you know, I won MVP in 2013 and then was cut from the Olympic team in 2016, which is wild. And so with that being said,

you learn to really kind of keep everything out. And I say that in, you know, sometimes as athletes, we wanna read the good and we wanna listen to people and there's validation and goodness, but we want to really listen to them when they're saying negative things and we let that impact us. And I've learned to really let that roll off my back.

Like you really have to just be a part of your process. And my process was winning a championship nine years after I got into the WNBA. And my process was then going back to Chicago and using the tools that I, the muscles that I developed during that drought of nine years and all the hard days and whatever to then win a championship in Chicago. And so I really truly believe that, you know,

everything happens for a reason. And the reason why we won in Chicago was because of the hard times that I had in LA. Like I'm 100% sure of that. Hmm. That's a testimony. Last question for you. I started this whole thing off sharing with everyone all the things that you're up to now. And obviously all of the things you accomplished as a basketball player. I don't even know if you've thought about this yet, but could you imagine, do you think it's possible that your second chapter could be even bigger than your highly decorated first chapter? I hope so. I really do. I think Magic Johnson is my North Star in terms of business and athletes and family and all of those good things and I hope to kind

of have a trajectory like that. I'd like to see more women in board seats. I'd like to see more women at cap tables. I'd like to see more female athletes get opportunities that our male counterparts are getting and I think the I'd like to see more women at cap tables. I'd like to see more female athletes get opportunities that our male counterparts are getting. And I think the only way to do that is outside the lines. I would like to be one that creates a financial literacy course and expectation for the NCAA for college. I would like to be someone that helps vet female athletes

to be able to serve on boards. Because the skills that we develop over our career are invaluable. I mean, like you can't, it's the intangibles. It's the winning, it's the losing, it's working with differences. It's all of these things, teamwork, that you learn as an athlete that give you a head start

going into the next phase. And so I hope to serve the game that has given me so much but also hopefully open it up more doors for when the ball stops bouncing for others. Oh, amen. Mic drop. I mean, just incredible. I have no doubts that when you put your mind to something, you're going to do all of that and continue to impact the game.

Well, I need you to put your mind to dominoes tonight, okay? I'm going to try my best. That's what I need you to do. There is no try, okay? There is no try. There is do or do not. I am gonna show up and try. There is no try, okay? There is no try. There is do or do not. I just wanna relax and have fun tonight and there's already pressure.

Winning is fun. I'm not even, I'm scared, guys. Anyway, girl. You know I love you so much. I love you so much. I'm so proud of you. You are amazing at what you do. Thank you.

Again, it's unbelievable to link up with you, so I'm excited, even though we're like neighbors, basically. Yeah, no, she won't hang out with me. I only see her at these very not corporate events. Not star weekends. But you are a busy mother of three. Come over and you go see the kids and you will see why we don't get out much just because they we can't take them out.

All right, Candace, thank you so much for kicking it. All right. Love you. Love you. Love you, love you. Love you. So Bye!