The decision to leave a team can be very difficult for a basketball player. There have to be a lot of factors that get taken into consideration, and a player genuinely has to believe that they have no choice but to leave, as their career and success depend greatly on it.
One person who was struggling with this decision was WNBA star, Candace Parker. Parker revealed in an interview with Taylor Rooks that she didn’t know what to do. Her conversations with Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade allowed her to decide on leaving Los Angeles to play in her hometown of Chicago.
“KD was basically like ‘listen, this is going to be a news story for 2 days, whether you go anywhere else or stay in LA. And then people are going to move on. And then from there, it switches to “can you win or can you not”. So if you’re worried about making your decision based off of other people, this needs to be a decision that you make’. And D-Wade was the same thing, D-Wade was just like ‘listen, it is great to play at home. But you have to make sure that you’re doing this, this is what you want to do. You make the decision that you want to make. And they were like ‘you’ll know’ and I think I did. Especially after speaking with my brother and my family… Once I said it and it was out there, it was one of those things where it was tough, but everybody was pretty much happy for me that I chose myself.”
In the end, the decision worked out well for Parker, who went on to have a career resurgance and win her second WNBA championship. On top of that, she became the first female player to be on the cover of an NBA 2K game, making it to the special edition of this year’s NBA 2K22 game.
Both Durant and Wade would have understood what Candace was going through. Durant famously left Oklahoma City to join the Golden State Warriors, arguably the most unpopular free-agency move in NBA history. But Durant seemingly had no regrets, as he did what was best for his career.
As for Dwyane Wade, he knew exactly what she was dealing with. Both Wade and Parker are from Chicago. And D-Wade also left Miami to go join the Bulls, in order to fulfill his dream of playing for his hometown franchise. He eventually returned to the Heat in order to end his career with the team he became a superstar with.
