PHOENIX — Candace Parker looked up to Chamique Holdsclaw and the 1996 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team growing up.
Now Parker and Elena Delle Donne will get to be enshrined with them in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame later this year.
“I am so happy for Chamique and I am so happy that she is getting her flowers. She deserves them,” Parker told the Associated Press. “Obviously, Elena Delle Donne and I grew up battling against one another and the ’96 team, I think we were all inspired by that. It’s truly special.”
Former Chicago Sky player and seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker speaks during a jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of the game between the Sky and Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Former Chicago Sky player and seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker’s jersey number is lifted into the rafters during a retirement ceremony at halftime of the game between the Sky and Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Former Chicago Sky player and seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker speaks during a jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of the game between the Sky and Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Former Chicago Sky player and seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker carries her son during a jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of the game between the Sky and Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Former Chicago Sky player Kahleah Copper speaks during Candace Parker’s jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of a game between the Sky and Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Former Chicago Sky player and seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker hugs Las Vegas Aces players after a jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of the game between the Sky and Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
From left, singer and actress Jennifer Hudson and musician and actor Common stand on the court after watching former Chicago Sky player and seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker speak during a jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of the game between the Sky and Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker watches the Chicago Sky play the Las Vegas Aces before her jersey is retired during a halftime ceremony at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker speaks with members of the press before her jersey is retired during a halftime ceremony during a game between the Chicago Sky and the Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker speaks with members of the press before her jersey is retired during a halftime ceremony during a game between the Chicago Sky and the Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker speaks with members of the press before her jersey is retired during a halftime ceremony during a game between the Chicago Sky and the Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Candace Parker towels sit on chairs before the Sky play the Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena Monday Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Chicago Sky principal owner Michael Alter speaks to attendees during Candace Parker’s jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of a game between the Sky and Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
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Former Chicago Sky player and seven-time WNBA All-Star Candace Parker speaks during a jersey retirement ceremony at halftime of the game between the Sky and Las Vegas Aces at Wintrust Arena on Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in Chicago. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Parker, the Naperville Central graduate who won three straight Ms. Basketball of Illinois awards from 2002-04, said she was honored to be part of the 2026 Hall of Fame class that includes Doc Rivers, Amar’e Stoudemire, Mike D’Antoni, Joey Crawford and Mark Few.
“It means so much, just to be in a club of people that I’ve always admired and looked up to and have paved the way. I think it’s super special,” Parker, 39, said.
Parker, a seven-time All-Star, won three WNBA titles with three teams: the Los Angeles Sparks, her home for her first 13 seasons after they selected her with the No. 1 pick in 2008; the Chicago Sky, whom she helped win their first championship in 2021; and the Las Vegas Sparks, for whom she played the last of her 16 seasons. She’s the only player in league history to win both the MVP and Rookie of the Year in the same season.
Parker also won two titles while playing in college for Tennessee under Hall of Fame coach Pat Summitt, two Olympic gold medals and two WNBA MVP awards.
The Sky last season retired Parker’s No. 3 jersey during a halftime ceremony Aug. 25 at Wintrust Arena.
Delle Donne, 36, who was the Sky’s selection with the No. 2 pick in the 2013 draft and won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award, played her first four seasons in Chicago. She won two league MVP awards — in 2015 with the Sky and 2019 with the Washington Mystics, whom she led to their lone WNBA championship.
Delle Donne, a seven-time All-Star, became the first player in league history to shoot better than 50% from the field, 40% from behind the 3-point line and 90% from the free-throw line.
Doc Rivers speaks at a news conference before the Final Four semifinal between Illinois and UConn on April 4, 2026, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)
Rivers, 64, a Chicago native and Proviso East graduate, has 1,180 victories on his resume, which puts him eighth on the all-time list. He led the Boston Celtics to the 2008 NBA championship and also was in charge of the Los Angeles Clippers during their Lob City era.
Holdsclaw, who grew up in New York, said she had pictures on her wall of members of the 1996 Olympic team that started the run of eight straight gold medals for women’s basketball and helped get the WNBA started.
“There’s four or five players on that team who I have pictures of at my home, Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, Teresa Edwards,” Holdsclaw said.
Holdsclaw won three straight titles at Tennessee from 1996-98, the first team to accomplish that. The 1998 championship was Tennessee’s first undefeated season at 39–0 and the Vols also set an NCAA record for the most wins in a season at that time. Parker helped Summitt win her last two titles in 2007-08.
“She would be so proud right now,” Holdsclaw said of her former coach. “I know she loved us both.”
Holdsclaw went on to have an 11-year WNBA career. The WNBA and the defunct ABL were really made possible by the 1996 team. The Americans went undefeated at the Atlanta Games and the interest the team generated with its barnstorming tour across the U.S. leading up to the Olympics captured the attention of fans across the country.
“The ’96 Olympic team was a really incredible group of women that were on a mission and accomplished the mission,” coach Tara VanDerveer said. “It helped establish the ABL and the WNBA and I think it really was the rocket that was the foundation for the women’s basketball landscape now. I think it’s very exciting for all the players on the team and the coaches.”
Stoudemire, who was the only NBA player in this year’s class, was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2003 and a six-time All-Star. He spent the first eight years of his career with the Phoenix Suns, where he teamed with D’Antoni.
“It means everything from a basketball point of view,” Stoudemire told the AP. “When you look back at my career not only as a pro, but even high school and, and nationally, and since I was a kid playing the game of basketball. I love the game. You play the game because you love it, and then you work to become the best you can possibly be, despite circumstances, and to get into the Hall of Fame, it shows that the voters appreciate it. And now we’re enshrined forever.”
Few has won 773 games at Gonzaga in his career at the school. He set the NCAA Division I men’s coaching record by winning 81 games in his first three years at the school. Few guided the Bulldogs to the national championship game in 2017 and 2021.
Crawford officiated 2,561 regular-season NBA games and 50 Finals games over his 39-year career. He retired in 2016.
D’Antoni influenced the sport with his up-tempo philosophy that redefined offensive strategy. He had nearly 1,200 career wins and was NBA Coach of the Year twice.
The Hall of Fame for the first time honored members of the Hall of Fame class at the women’s Final Four on Friday night. Parker, Holdsclaw and members of the 1996 Olympic team were all in attendance, as well as Stoudemire and D’Antoni.
The enshrinement ceremony will take place in August at the Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.