Sparks’ Parker will take a break

The two-time MVP will sit out the start of the WNBA season and the team supports her decision.

Sparks star Candace Parker will sit out at least the beginning of the upcoming WNBA season to rest.

“It was Candace’s decision and she felt she needed to get her body 100% healthy,” Sparks General Manager Penny Toler told the Associated Press. “She wanted to be the best she could be for herself and the team. What we’re doing is supporting her in that decision.”

Parker, like many WNBA players, also plays overseas, essentially creating a yearround commitment to basketball. Toler said she wasn’t sure when the twotime most valuable player would return but she expects Parker back this season.

“She intends on playing,” Toler said. “At what point we don’t know. She has been playing year round and needed a break.”

Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi said in February she would sit out the entire 2015 WNBA season after accepting an offer from her Russian club to rest. Parker is on the same team as Taurasi, but isn’t getting paid by UMMC Ekaterinburg to sit out.

“Candace told me this is not a financial decision,” Toler said. “She told me she’s not getting paid at all [by her Russian club]. She feels she would like to play 100% healthy and be the best she could be to have an opportunity to win a championship.”

Parker, who turns 29 next week, has spent her entire career with the Sparks since she was drafted with the No. 1 pick in 2008. She missed the first eight games of the 2009 season after giving birth.