Chicago Sky star Candace Parker will cap off 2021 with another milestone after announcing that she’s expecting her second child and first with her wife, Anya Petrakova.
Parker helped bring the first WNBA title to her hometown this year as the Sky beat the Phoenix Mercury in four games in the league finals in October. Now the two-time WNBA MVP is focusing on family in the offseason.
“We’ve always dreamed of growing our family….it’s surreal that we now have a baby on the way!” Parker wrote on Instagram. “Lailaa is pumped to be a big sister! You couldn’t be more beautiful! Glowing, while understanding that I have to constantly love, kiss, and talk to your belly AND yes… play Jay-Z for the baby (Goose knows “Song Cry” already by heart!) I can’t wait to embark on this next chapter in life with you!”
Parker and Petrakova played together in Russia for UMMC Ekaterinburg — the team Parker’s fellow Sky stars Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley are currently playing for — and they won a FIBA Europe SuperCup together in 2013.
Parker, who grew up in Naperville, hadn’t previously shared the news of her marriage, which took place in 2019.
“(Two) years ago, I got to marry my best friend in front of our close family and friends,” Parker wrote. “My heart could have exploded. I cried like a baby….To know me or you is to know our love. This journey hasn’t been easy. I am proud of us and what we have built and who we have grown to become both individually and together.”
Parker’s daughter, Lailaa, was born in 2009, shortly after Parker won the 2008 WNBA Rookie of the Year award.
Lailaa has been an inspiration and touchstone for Parker throughout her career, celebrating two WNBA championships, two Olympic gold medals and 10 European titles on the court with her mother.
“I asked her if it was OK if I came to Chicago, and she told me, ‘I want another picture,’” Parker said after the 2021 WNBA Finals. “She’s been my motivation and my reason for everything, and we’ve gone through this together. She sacrifices for her mom so that I can live my dream.”
Parker, 35, will return to the Sky next season for the second year of a two-year deal she signed in February 2021. It will be her 15th WNBA season.
