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Three questions with Candace Parker: Staying relaxed at the top (and ignoring Twitter trolls)
Candace Parker of the Los Angeles Sparks handles the ball against the Indiana Fever on June 19, 2018 at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles. The Sparks won 74-55. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Three questions with Candace Parker: Staying relaxed at the top (and ignoring Twitter trolls)

By Lindsay Gibbs  |  Last updated 6/20/18

Candace Parker manages to stay relaxed as the rest of the WNBA chases the Los Angeles Sparks.   Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images

This is Candace Parker's 11th WNBA season, and the two-time MVP shows no sign of slowing down. Since returning from a back injury that sidelined her at the start of the season, Parker is averaging 16.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game.

She has two goals, which work in tandem: First, to win enough games in the regular season to secure a top-two seed in the WNBA playoffs, which guarantees a team a double bye to the semifinals; and second, to win another WNBA championship.

The two-time Olympic champion and four-time All-Star spoke to Yardbarker about how she stays fired up, the Sparks' season so far and why she's not planning an apology tour any time soon.

You've said that you prefer being the hunter, not the hunted. But the Sparks have been one of the best teams in the league for the last few years, which means you have a target on your back every time you play. How do the Sparks manage to play with such extreme fire on a game in, game out basis. Does that intensity and heart start with you?

(Laughs) Actually, I’m the one that laughs and has a good time and has to be refocused. I think we know what it takes to get to the finals, how hard it is. But I’m in my 11th year, and I’m having fun playing basketball. I think when you’re having fun and you’re playing loose, then you’re at your best. Now, [head coach Brian Agler] might think something else. But that’s how I think.

We know everyone wants to knock us off. We’re prepared for it, and just are trying to get those top two spots. That’s our key. We don’t try to worry about everybody else.

I really enjoyed your work as an analyst for TBS during March Madness. If you put on your analyst hat right now, what's your assessment of this Sparks team a quarter of the way through the season? 

I don’t think we’re at where we want to be, but we’re playing pretty good basketball. Our offense is so open and equal opportunity. Our bench, at any given time ... we can count on every player to step up. We're at our best when we are able to play in that secondary transition game, where I bring the ball up and we’re cutting and moving.

I would say, defensive rebounds are key for us. We’ve got to make that a concerted effort, because in Game 5, last year in the finals, we got pummeled on the glass. We’re able to play great defense, we just have to get rebounds and finish the play. If I were an analyst, I'd say that's what we need to work on.

Last year before the playoffs, the Sparks released their own music video to Beyonce's "Sorry," which featured all of the players dressed up in Beyonce-inspired outfits, and a barrage of the hate you all receive on social media. It was incredible. What inspired you all to make that video, and what message did you want to send to the trolls?

I just think it’s just — we’re not sorry. We’re unapologetic for who we are. I think this league represents us as women, in that we come from different backgrounds, different schools, different races, different sexualities, everything. So it’s not apologizing for that. It’s being who you are. I love that video, and I think [Sparks President and COO, Christine Simmons] did a great job with that. We had so much fun, from the outfits that we wore, everyone’s personality shown.

As for social media, I don’t respond to eggs. If you don’t have more than like five followers, and you’re an egg, I don’t respond to you. And old jokes that are the same old thing? Get some play, I know that if these are your jokes, then your game is way worse — you don’t talk to any girls if that’s your jokes on Twitter.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Previously: Three questions with Chiney Ogwumike: Multitasking with the Connecticut Sun, ESPN and the Marvel Universe

Previously: Three questions with Kelsey Mitchell: How the No. 2 pick is adjusting to the WNBA

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