FILE - Former Los Angeles Sparks player Candace Parker speaks during her jersey retirement ceremony during a WNBA basketball game between the Sparks and the Chicago Sky, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jessie Alcheh, File)
August 01, 2025 - 11:19 AM
Seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker was unimpressed by the effort in the All-Star Game.
Parker criticized the game on a podcast that aired Wednesday, calling it “awful.”
“Y’all cannot come out there with those shirts of ‘Pay Us What You Owe Us’ and then do that,” Parker told All-Star Aliyah Boston on their new podcast “Post Moves.”
Parker was referencing the warmup shirts both teams wore at the July 19 game in response to failed collective-bargaining negotiations with the league earlier that week. Players are fighting for higher pay and better benefits, among other improvements.
The game set a WNBA All-Star record for points scored and Napheesa Collier set the individual scoring mark with 36 points. Team Collier beat Team Clark 151-131.
Defense was at a minimum as the league's stars allowed each other to get shots up without contest.
It wasn't unlike the all-star games across other pro leagues, but Parker was looking for more from WNBA players at a time when they're in the spotlight.
“I think on one of the biggest stages, in an All-Star setting that was invested in more than any other All-Star game previously. … I think it would’ve really maximized the moment.”
Fever forward Boston, who played on Team Clark, defended the performance of her and her peers.
“An All-Star Game, where we have another game in two days, I think that it’s OK to just go out there and hoop and have some fun,” she said. “Because on Tuesday, we were back at it, and we were playing and we were showing once again why we deserve to get paid.”
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