For Parkers, basketball is all in the family

Anthony Parker was in disbelief in 2004 when his family called to tell him his sister, Candace, had won the McDonald's High School All-American Slam Dunk Competition.

After all, she was up against some of the top male high school athletes in the country.

And she had just come back from an ACL injury.

And it was nearly April Fool's Day.

"I was like, 'Ha, ha, the joke's on me,'" Anthony said this week.

But it was true and it's just one of dozens of highlight-reel moments in Candace's career that began in Naperville and continues today while she plays for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.

"It was really incredible," Anthony said. "She set the bar high at each stage - high school, college, and now the WNBA. She surpasses the standard of excellence at each stop."

He said he wishes he could be in Naperville today to share in the excitement as the park district renames a basketball court in Candace's honor at Spring-Field Park.

When they were kids, Candace liked to tag along with Anthony and their brother, Marcus, as they played basketball around Naperville.

There was too big an age difference - 11 years - for Candace and Anthony to be competitive with each other at that point, but those summer days with her brothers had a lasting impact nonetheless.

"Being in that environment certainly shaped who she would become and the fact she fell in love with basketball later on," Anthony said.

Watching her play as an eighth-grader in an AAU tournament in Orlando, he noticed she already was attracting national attention.

"People were asking who is this girl at this height handling the ball and doing things she was doing," he said. "And at that point, looking around at the nation's best players her age, I realized she had a chance to be special."

These days Candace and Anthony, who recently signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers, are having a friendly competition of their own to see who can win a professional championship first.

While they don't get the chance to go one-on-one with each other often, Anthony has a fond memory of the siblings playing on the same team. He was home in Naperville from an overseas trip when Candace was a teenager. He, Candace and Marcus headed out to the basketball court to shoot hoops.

Three guys who didn't recognize their competition asked to play against the siblings. The Parkers offered to split themselves up, but their rivals turned them down, a move they'd later regret.

"I think by the end of our game if they didn't know who Candace was (before) they were certainly going to look out for her for the rest of the year," Anthony said, laughing.

He and Marcus have always done their part to keep Candace from getting a big head by giving her a little brotherly teasing.

As for the development of his sister's skills, Anthony credits Candace's hard work and their father Larry's coaching.

"Dad always made sure she maintained her ball skills and passing ability," he said. "All of those things now set her apart from everybody else."