Candace Parker was all smiles in the Chicago Sky’s postgame press conference Wednesday. But that may have had more to do with the fact that her son Airr Larry Petrakov Parker was present rather than the Sky’s 83-50 win against the New York Liberty.
Or it could have been both.
.@Candace_Parker brought her baby boy to her post-game presser. 💜 pic.twitter.com/61RQNffete
— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) May 12, 2022
Airr, who was born in February, stole the show and provided a reminder of how hard mothers in the WNBA work to make it work.
@Candace_Parker of the @chicagosky continuing to show how working moms get it done! pic.twitter.com/St2WHDXZMU
— AllThingsWNBA (@AllThingsWNBA) May 12, 2022
As she spoke about Dana Evans, Parker allowed Airr to provide his own insight.
“I’ve seen her evolution in practice,” Parker said, before asking her son if he agreed. He cooed in response. “He agrees.”
Evans scored a team-high 15 points and added four rebounds and three assists. Rebekah Gardner added 14 points in her WNBA debut while Parker had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. Emma Meesseman contributed 10 points.
The Liberty struggled offensively, with Han Xu the only player in double digits with 10 points. They scored just 17 points total in the first half.
While the team shot 33.3 percent to Chicago’s 45.6 percent, the problems were exacerbated beyond the 3-point line. While Chicago was 10-for-22 and shot 45.5 percent from 3-point range, the Liberty went 2-for-15 – a mere 13.3 percent.
New York’s Stefanie Dolson managed six points against her former team, while the Sky held Sabrina Ionescu to two points.