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Candace Parker celebrates year of wins with wife expecting baby

By Caleb Calhoun

February 15, 2020; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Los Angeles Sparks forward Candace Parker during NBA All Star Saturday Night at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
February 15, 2020; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Los Angeles Sparks forward Candace Parker during NBA All Star Saturday Night at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Some interesting news just hit the Tennessee Lady Vols community. UT legend Candace Parker’s family is growing, as she is adding to the list of wins she has enjoyed recently on the heels of leading the Chicago Sky to the WNBA Champion.

The two-time national champion under Pat Summitt, two-time gold medalist, two-time WNBA MVP and two-time WNBA Champion revealed on social media that she is married to Russian professional basketball player Anna Petrakova. They have been married since 2019.

Beyond just being married, though, Candace Parker is about to become a mom again. She also revealed that Petrakova is pregnant. The Lady Vol legend shared all of this news Tuesday afternoon on Twitter.

It’s obviously been a year of wins for Parker with the title and the pregnancy news. She’s been winning on the court ever since the marriage apparently happened, though, stepping up her game in an impressive way. After all, in 2020, she won WNBA Defensive Player of the Year.

Winning that award completed her resume, but it still couldn’t trump what she did this year. Going home to Chicago to win her second championship was a huge deal and another way for her to silence the doubters she has had.

Yes, Candace Parker has still had doubters, and she’s been proving them wrong for a while. Geno Auriemma cut her from the 2016 Olympic team, and all she did was win the WNBA Finals MVP. She was then benched in the 2019 WNBA Playoffs before winning that award in 2020. Then the Los Angeles Sparks let her walk, only to see her win a title elsewhere.

It’s pretty clear that Parker has had a heck of a run on the court proving doubters wrong, and now she caps it all off with a huge win off the court. We can’t help but be happy for one of the greatest legends in UT history.

Parker has one child from her previous marriage to former Duke Blue Devis basketball player Sheldon Williams. They had a daughter, Lailaa Nicole Williams, who was born in 2009. She and Williams divorced in 2016 after eight years of marriage.