Candace Parker never wanted to cheat the game.

Of a player molded by Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols’ legacy, one would expect nothing less. Through 10 surgeries. Her pregnancy and birth of her first child, Lailaa, after her rookie season. Through offseasons spent playing in Russia and China and Turkey, and later, offseasons behind the desk on TNT, NBATV and CBS. Through a career that spanned 16 seasons and three cities in the WNBA, four years at Tennessee and two Olympics, it can be said assuredly: Parker never cheated the game. Instead, it almost feels like the game should’ve given her even more than it did.

Parker, 38, announced Sunday on Instagram that she had retired from the WNBA. From her home or a hotel or a gym somewhere, Parker silently pushed send and let the world know that one of the greatest who has ever stepped foot on a basketball court would not play again.

There were no heads-ups or warnings to the WNBA community or the players against whom she has competed for years. And there will be no send-off season or monthslong march toward her retirement. It was swift and succinct. And it was exactly how she wanted it — entirely on her terms. After a career that was too often derailed by injury, she was owed that.

“I always wanted to walk off the court with no parade or tour,” her Instagram caption read. “Just privately with the ones I love.”

That Parker’s last WNBA game was a 2-point loss on the road to Dallas in 2023 is a footnote in her story. That might’ve been her last game on the floor, but her last WNBA game was a league championship. Her third one. She might’ve been on the end of the bench, not suited up, but she was crucial for the Las Vegas Aces every step of the way. Parker went out as she always was — a winner, an incredible teammate and an advocate for the game.

In reading Parker’s message, the first memory that comes to mind is not of her final season in Las Vegas, but of her final game in the 2021 season. She had come home to Chicagoland after 13 seasons in Los Angeles to bring a title to the city. It was the first offseason under a new CBA when free agency could thrive and she was — fittingly as one of the players who helped build the league — one of the first to deliver shocking free-agency news. Months later, in October, in a decisive WNBA Finals Game 4, with five seconds remaining, Parker pulled down the final rebound of the 2021 season and began to dribble up the court. As time expired, she picked up the ball and sprinted to the corner of the court, where her family awaited. She jumped into their arms.

She returned to center court to celebrate with teammates until she spotted Lailaa and motioned for her to come running. That was when the tears really started to fall. Parker played part of her rookie season pregnant with Lailaa and thus, Lailaa has been on Parker’s basketball journey since birth.

This moment with Lailaa💙@Candace_Parker | #skytown pic.twitter.com/6cQsv7QLrb

— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) October 17, 2021

“Look at the city, man, they all showed up,” Parker said, looking up at the sold-out arena with her arm draped around her daughter. “They all showed up.”

But Parker had always been a player for whom people show up — fans, cities, her family, free agents. That season had its own harbingers of a swiftly changing league as viewership and attendance ticked up. In that final game, Chance the Rapper and Scottie Pippen sat courtside, but it was Lailaa to whom she held most tightly after the game.

Her basketball career spans the epic growth of this sport that has only hastened in the past few seasons. In 2003, she became the first women’s basketball player to ever announce her college commitment on ESPN. She would later become the first women’s player to dunk in an NCAA game. In the WNBA, she became the first (and still, only) player to win MVP and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season. Then, she became the first player to win three league titles with three franchises.

She was one of the first women’s players who tested the limits of positionless basketball. Even in college, her unicorn-like skills were undeniable. In the national title game during her senior year, play-by-play announcer Mike Patrick said: “This is almost unfair — someone of her size with this kind of speed and this kind of ballhandling.”

But it wasn’t unfair. Parker was just different. Maybe ahead of her time. Maybe right on time. She pushed the boundaries of what people saw for women’s basketball players. And she would continue to do so as a player in the WNBA both on and off the court.

She became a broadcaster, investor, professional women’s soccer team owner, face of Adidas basketball, producer and mother (in addition to Lailaa, she and her wife, Anna Petrakov, are expecting their second child together). She did all of this while continuing to fight injuries that risked her career, but rehabbing so that she could continue to be one of the best players in the WNBA. Her commitment to the game never wavered. She refused to give less than her all. A memory of Summitt not hesitating to kick her out of college practice for not giving 100 percent sat fresh in the front of her mind even two decades later.

In the wake of her retirement announcement, social media was flooded with photos from people — WNBA players, NBA players, athletes and fans — who admire Parker, both the player and person.

“The biggest thing is she did it her way, always,” former teammate Courtney Vandersloot told The Athletic. “She was the type of player that changed the game. What we see now, Candace was doing that early.”

Candace Parker has retired from the WNBA.

I broke the news to her. Here’s her instant reaction ⬇️ https://t.co/t9CpY5wrnr pic.twitter.com/WD8unfrBdt

— Ben Pickman (@benpickman) April 28, 2024

Parker never cheated basketball. She changed it. And, if anything, it owed her a few more attempts at a title and more wins while being fully healthy or having a full complement around her. Regardless of her last game, her last win or her last title, Parker changed the expectations of a women’s basketball player and WNBA player by being 100 percent herself. She stood on the shoulders of giants while allowing others to stand on her shoulders simultaneously, too.

For 16 WNBA seasons, Parker played for her family, her city and her league. She proved she could be almost as effective at that on the bench as a motivator and coach, when life necessitated it far too often, as she was on the floor. Even in retirement, her impact will be felt through the sport she helped grow.

Now, the girl who fell in love with “a little orange ball at 13 years old” can relax in retirement knowing it bounces better for the next generation because of her.

(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

A social media influencer received a load of backlash after posting herself crossing the finish line of the NYCRUNS Brooklyn Half Marathon on Sunday despite not signing up for the race. 

Alexa Curtis, 26, posted an apology on X, where she said the post was “meant to be inspirational.”

“I did not realize I would offend so many people,” she wrote. “…I had no intention to take anything from anyone or the race: I was running for myself for my mental health. In the future I’ll be sure to look up the rules if I decide to run again.”

Curtis was banditing, otherwise known as running a race without registering. It’s a highly controversial thing to do considering entry frees for races are used to pay for security, medical responders, water and Gatorade during the race, and more. 

A portion of registration, which is $125 and up, also go to charity. NYU Langone Healthy is the Brooklyn Half Marathon’s “signature charity partner.”

Curtis admitted she didn’t sign up for the race in a lengthy post. 

MTA DEMANDING NEW YORK CITY MARATHON ORGANIZERS PAY $750K FOR LOST TOLL REVENUE IN THIS YEAR’S RACE: REPORT

“Just ran 13.1 milles for the Brooklyn half marathon at a 7.43 minute pace,” Curtis’s post read. “I didn’t walk at all. I cried during a lot of it. I went to bed at 10 PM.

“I just asked the security where it started and where it ended and jumped in,” she said while explaining the hardships she’s had in her life recently. “No one watched me cross the finish line this year.

“When people ask me what being fearless is, it’s like asking security where the race starts and where it ends. Everything in the middle, all the bull***, the pain, the trauma you’re gonna experience in your life is nothing because you started running and you’re not going to stop just because you cross that finish line. You never have it all figured out but you rely on yourself because that’s all you have in life: you.”

People who didn’t appreciate Curtis jumping into the race flooded her comments, with one X user saying, “You are a bandit and you stole from this race and this community. These things are expensive and for charity. Shame on you.”

Curtis replied to this comment. 

Participants of the New York City Half-Marathon are seen here along Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn on Sunday March 17, 2024. 0801. (Theodore Parisienne for NY Daily News via Getty Images)

“You know I don’t have the energy to reply to this but I’m gonna because last week I refunded a client $17,000 because I was an idiot, didn’t have a contract and she decided she wasn’t ‘happy and desperately needed the money back’ but the last thing I wanted was an American Express dispute to then deal with none of my existing clients to be able to have their invoices processed. 

“I worked for free for 2 weeks while running a second business (be fearless) where I constantly lose money yet show up to inspire young women to be fearless who rely on me to. 

“So get back to me about stealing – google the definition of it cause that’s what happened to me in business this month not running a half marathon. Hbu? Any wins and losses you wanna mention on twitter?”

Curtis’ publicist told The New York Post that she “decided last minute to participate in the Brooklyn Half.”

“It was not intentional that she did not sign up, rather she thought it would be a nice way to help spread the word via her platform about the importance of moving your body/working out and the mind-body connection as well as share some nice awareness for the Brooklyn Half,” read the statement, which also pointed out Curtis is visiting from overseas.

“Her participation was meant to be a positive move, and it’s very unfortunate that she is now receiving such negative backlash about something that was to be uplifting for her followers.”

NYCRUNS issued a statement to The Post as well, saying a record was made with participants in this race. 

The 2024 United Airlines NYC Half Marathon is held in New York City. The course starts in Brooklyn and ends in Central Park in Manhattan. (Roy Rochlin/New York Road Runners via Getty Images)

“We had a record number of runners at Sunday’s NYCRUNS Brooklyn Half Marathon with over 21,000 official finishers. 

“Our top priority is the safety and well-being of every one of those runners, and the bib that every runner wears is their lifeline if a medical issue arises on the course,” the statement continued. “It’s dangerous to run in a race without a bib, and it’s also not fair to the thousands of runners who are.”

Curtis, a Connecticut native, founded Be Fearless Inc., which is a “reinvented career brand” that aims to “helping you be fearless & the boss of your own life.” Curtis has 13,100 followers on X and 23,300 on Instagram. 

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Did LeBron James play his last game for the Lakers?

The Lakers’ season ended Monday night after a 108-106 loss to the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series, at which point nothing bound James to the team.

James, 39, can decline his $50.4-million option for next season.

The choice will say more about the priorities of the 39-year-old James than the state of the Lakers.

In James’ six seasons with the Lakers, they have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs twice and not even reached them two other times.

The franchise is now four seasons removed from the championship it won in the NBA bubble.

The Lakers might be the Lakers in name, but they’re not the Lakers in performance.

Their Game 5 loss was the result of the kind of shot Lakers players used to make in their glory years, as Nuggets guard Jamal Murray sank a 14-foot jumper over Austin Reaves with four seconds left.

The fact the Lakers were in position to return the series to Los Angeles for a sixth game was a surprise, considering what happened to Anthony Davis earlier in the game.

About a minute into the second half, with the Lakers leading by six points, Davis bumped into Michael Porter Jr. as he ran by him. Davis crumbled to the court clutching his left shoulder.

Davis remained in the game but was never the same.

A couple of minutes later, Davis reached with his left hand to contest a jumper by Murray. The shot went in. Davis winced in pain.

With about three minutes left in the third quarter, Davis departed the Lakers’ bench area and headed toward the locker room. When the quarter ended, the Lakers were down 81-79.

Davis returned to the court for the fourth quarter.

A compromised Davis finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Each of the Lakers’ starters scored 14 or more points, led by James with 30. Austin Reaves scored 19, Rui Hachimura had 15 and D’Angelo Russell 14.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our crew despite everything that happened,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “Obviously, the series didn’t go in our favor, didn’t start the way we wanted it to, but to win that one at home, fight tooth and nail today to get this one, our guys showed a lot of guts and a lot of character and that resilience to continue to fight.”

There were early indications this game wouldn’t be like the last one — or, for that matter, any of the four before it.

For the first time in the series, the Nuggets led after the first quarter. Murray, who was listed as questionable for the game because of a left calf strain, scored 12 points in the period to give his team a 28-24 lead.

Playing with a dark blue wrap on his injured leg, Murray made four of nine shots in the opening quarter, including three of six from three-point range. Murray made only 38% of his shots over the previous four games.

The Lakers went into halftime with a 53-50 edge, however, courtesy of James and Davis. James registered 10 points and seven assists before the break; Davis had 16 points and nine rebounds.

Murray finished with a game-high 32 points.

In retrospect, the series was a microcosm of the Lakers’ season — hopelessness followed by more hopelessness followed by a smidge of optimism that was ultimately extinguished by the reaffirmation of the previously mentioned hopelessness.

Last season, the Lakers made up for their underwhelming regular season by reaching the Western Conference finals, which convinced their braintrust to retain the nucleus of their roster. This season, there was no such miracle to cover up their shortcomings.