TAMPA, Fla. – During a basketball skills clinic held for local-area high school players during the women’s Final Four, an eager camper in attendance caught the attention of Candace Parker, who co-hosted the event as the president of Adidas Women’s Basketball.
The participant had come to the camp in a walking boot after recently fracturing her foot.
Wanting to participate in the clinic, part of Adidas’ “You Got This” campaign aimed at combating negative sideline behaviors toward youth athletes, the camper tried running the floor with the other campers, ignoring the orthotic device hindering her.
Parker decided to intervene.
“I was like, ‘I love you, but, no, baby,’” Parker said.
Adidas
Parker was no stranger to battling injuries during her basketball career, including tearing her ACL during her senior year of high school.
“To be at a camp with all of us and you want to prove and show, it’s got to be hard to be sidelined a little bit. I know what it feels like,” Parker said. “I hope I just inspired her a little bit to keep on going.”
The weekend, fittingly, was Parker’s first time to Tampa during a Final Four since she herself won a national championship with the Lady Vols in 2008.
Parker’s return to the Central Florida city, following a multi-championship-winning, Hall of Fame-worthy playing career, posited her as a brand executive, tasked with ushering in the next era of Adidas’ women’s basketball division since she became president in May 2024.
For Parker, her first year as an executive has flown by, filled with lessons both anticipated and unexpected, as she continues to settle into her new position and establish her vision.
“I’ve learned a great deal and leaned on a lot of people, but I’m excited about what we’re doing and what our plans are for the next 11 months,” Parker said. “When you’re doing something that you love and you’re around people that you are absolutely obsessed with and love and genuinely can’t wait for them to win – it inspires me every single day.”
In the past year, Parker signed two athletes to her Adidas roster.
In January, Parker signed Phoenix Mercury star forward Satou Sabally to the brand. Sabally, who previously had been signed to Jordan Brand, joined an Adidas women’s basketball roster that includes players such as Chelsea Gray, Aliyah Boston and Nneka Ogwumike.
“We want hoopers, but we want great people,” Parker said of the Sabally signing. “Just in general, everybody here has the same purpose and intention of surrounding themselves with people that are passionate, that are great people, that are great at their craft.”
When evaluating talent now as an executive, Parker said she doesn’t see the game or players any differently than she did when she was a player.
“You teach the way you learn and you see the game, the way you were taught to see the game,” Parker said. “I think it’s more of leaning on others to figure out the best way to go about it now because my experience was way different than the landscape today.”
In addition to evaluating the collegiate and pro ranks for potential additions to her Adidas roster, Parker’s scope also includes the high school ranks, where the individual NIL industry has boomed in recent years.
Parker has been a part of Adidas herself since she was 15 years old, when her high school team was sponsored by the brand, allowing her insight into the importance of getting in the door early with an athlete. With the ability to now pay individual athletes, though, the playing field has changed.
“It’s even more important now to get them earlier. I mean, we have to,” Parker said. “You’re putting on shoes at 13-14 years old. You’re choosing to play in certain tournaments as a result of brand affiliation. You’re going to certain schools because of brand affiliation.
“I don’t know if the landscape has changed because I think it’s always been like that. It’s just now you’re able to individually pay the athlete and individually highlight them, and it’s figuring out different ways to try to get them to fall in love with our brand and to see if it’s a great fit.”
Parker’s first signing was in the NIL space. Last November, Adidas announced that it had signed five-star prospect Kaleena Smith, a 16-year-old guard from Ontario, California. Smith, currently the No. 1 ranked player in the Class of 2027, is the company’s first NIL signing for a high school girls basketball player.
As one of women’s basketball’s most visible and powerful stakeholders, Parker is excited about the state and direction the game is heading, from the growth of the overall sport and player skill sets to the increasing visibility.
“I think it’s the growth of the opportunity,” Parker said. “When I was coming out of school it was like … probably a handful of players got shoe deals, and it was between Adidas and Nike. Now you look, I mean, there’s so many other brands, partnerships and endorsements and I love it.”
In 2010, Parker became the ninth player in WNBA history to launch a signature shoe when Adidas released the first of Parker’s “Ace” line. In doing so, Parker became the seventh Black woman to have her own signature basketball shoe.
She would be the last Black woman to do so until last spring when it was announced that Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson was releasing her own signature shoe, the A’One, through Nike.
Parker celebrates Wilson, a former teammate with whom Parker won her third championship in 2023, as she joins an elite group of players to debut their own signature shoe.
When it comes to the recognition of Wilson’s accomplishment through the lens of race, though, Parker wants to see the conversation shift.
“We’re in 2025, we shouldn’t be doing the first seconds of anything,” Parker said. “I think it’s one of those things that we need to talk about, because again, just like women are having to prove themselves, I think other demographics are having to do that over and over again as well. So, I think it’s just a conversation, obviously, to be had, but it’s just – you’re tired of having to continue to justify your seat at the table.”
Now that she has a seat at the table as an executive of a major brand, Parker hopes to play a role in reconstructing the dialogue.
She continued: “I still want to talk about it because I think it’s super important, but I also understand the power of, like, being able to see somebody that looks like you doing what you love being in a league that’s predominantly 80% African-American, you know?
“It’s also figuring out from a vision standpoint, changing what we feel like is endorsable or is promotable. It’s like, OK, what are other young girls – they want to see others that look like them – so how do we reach those communities? How do we reach those young girls to continue to inspire whatever we look like?
“So that’s my mission.”