Candace Parker’s pregnancy early in her WNBA career was both groundbreaking and transformative. After a historic rookie season in which she won both MVP and Rookie of the Year in 2008, she became pregnant and gave birth to her daughter, Lailaa, in May 2009. Still at the beginning of what would become a Hall of Fame career, Parker was concerned about the questions she would face after giving birth. The three-time WNBA champion was determined to prove that a pregnancy would not hinder her dominance.

When Parker first learned she was pregnant, she wondered how she would balance motherhood with her basketball career. With no maternity leave in the WNBA at the time, she had to figure things out on her own. Still, she was determined to return to the superstar form she had shown in her rookie season, despite the major changes in her life.

Fortunately, Parker’s family was financially stable enough that she didn’t have to worry about income during her pregnancy. She was simply concerned with how quickly she was going to return to the game. Luckily for Parker, her mother played a massive role in taking care of her daughter while she was out on the court.

“So 53 days later, after having my daughter, I stepped on the court,” Parker said during her appearance on All Facts No Brakes. “Should I have? Probably not. What did that come with? At the time, we were sharing rooms in the WNBA. So I had to buy out my half of the room so my mom could come and stay with my daughter.”

“I was nursing, you know, before the game, at halftime. I was buying my mom’s tickets to get to the game with us on the commercial flight,” Parker continued. “So yeah, all that came with it. But I just wanted to be back out there and play.” 

While her love of basketball obviously drove her urgency to return, there were other factors as well. Parker had entered the WNBA with the LA Sparks, playing alongside legend Lisa Leslie. With Leslie’s career coming to a close, Parker wanted to hoop alongside her while she still could.

“And it was Lisa Leslie’s last year. So I wanted to get back and be able to play with her before she retired,” Parker added. But for the former forward, it wasn’t just about playing again; it proving her detractors wrong.

She admitted that she had heard the whispers claiming she would never be the same player after pregnancy. It wasn’t a foreign concept to see WNBA stars having children but never so early in their careers. Parker was just 23 years old when she became a mother. But after being selected first overall in 2008, she still had sky-high expectations to meet.

Parker’s short absence in her second season proved to be a small blip in an iconic career. The former Tennessee Volunteer went on to play 15 more seasons, adding another MVP, a Defensive Player of the Year award, and numerous other accolades to her trophy case. It didn’t take long for Parker to prove to her doubters that, even with a baby, nothing was going to stop her path to greatness.