Photo courtesy Twitter

WNBA star Candace Parker is gracing the cover of the NBA 2K as the first woman ever to appear on the basketball video game. The Chicago Sky forward will be featured for the WNBA 25th Anniversary Special Edition of NBA 2K22, which is set to be released on September 10.

In a tweet, Parker wrote, “Extremely proud and humbled to be the first female cover athlete in the history of @NBA2K. I’m honored to work with a company that’s investing in women and betting on us to succeed. I’m hopeful there will be many more badass females to follow.” Aiming to disrupt the sexism that prevails in the sport, the WNBA was added to 2K three years ago with NBA 2K20 and Parker’s historic appearance is yet another milestone for female athletes fighting for equity in their arenas.

For Parker herself, the cover merely tops off her all-star career. As a six-time WNBA All-Star, two-time WNBA MVP, and 2016 WNBA Finals MVP and the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, her athletic brilliance has shone on the court across her thirteen years in the game.

“I grew up a video game fanatic, that’s what I did, to the point where my brothers would give me the fake controller when I was younger where I think I was playing and I wasn’t,” Parker said in a statement to ESPN. “All I wanted to do was just be like them. As a kid growing up, you dream of having your own shoe and dream of being in a video game. Those are an athlete as a kid’s dreams. To be able to experience that, I don’t take it lightly.”

For this year’s NBA 2K release, Luka Doncic, the Dallas Mavericks’ guard, will be featured on the standard cover and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Dirk Nowitzki, and Kevin Durant will be featured on the NBA 75th Anniversary Edition cover.

topics: Candace Parker, WNBA

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