We knew Candace Parker was a star before her great performance in this year's NCAA Women's Final Four Tournament, leading the Tennessee Lady Volunteers to their eighth championship.
We knew the moment that she started dunking rocks in high school and during college games as a redshirt freshman two years ago, that she was destined to shine in the WNBA.
Earlier this month, she was the first overall pick in the WNBA draft, going to the L.A. Sparks. Now the endorsements are starting come through. Gatorade recently signed Parker to an endorsement deal, making her the only Black woman to endorse the product.
"It's only fitting for me to announce Gatorade as my first partner as I begin my professional basketball career because they have been part of my life since the day I first picked up a basketball," said Parker. "It still means a lot to me that in high school I was honored as a two-time Gatorade High School Basketball Player of the Year and as a college athlete at the University of Tennessee, Gatorade was always on the sidelines."
Parker has also signed an endorsement deal with adidas, who was battling with Nike to grab the budding superstar, according to Darren Rovell at CNBC. There's no word on the details of the deal whether it's just a normal endorsement (read: modeling) or if she's going to get a signature line of shoes and gear, regardless, she's happy to be down.
"After meeting with the team at adidas and hearing about their future direction, I was extremely excited about continuing to be part of the adidas family," Parker said. "There were a number of companies looking to partner with me, but adidas' commitment to the game of basketball, their WNBA partnership, their future direction and how I could be an extensive part of that made me feel like this was the perfect fit for my future."
1. Congrats to Candace - and good choices with both adidas and Gatorade!
Aimee at 12:15PM on Apr 22nd 2008