It didn’t take long into Chicago Sky training camp for new forward Candace Parker and guard Diamond DeShields to start flashing some of their enormous potential together.
There have been fast breaks during which Parker grabs a rebound and tosses an outlet pass over the defense to DeShields for a layup. And times when DeShields attracts an extra defender coming off a screen, leaving Parker wide open to attack the basket.
“You have two players that complement each other,” coach James Wade said during a Zoom call last week. “Both players are playmakers and both are willing passers. Diamond is a good cutter and Candace is a good passer on the move, especially high-low passes to players that cut. Candace handles the ball in transition and Diamond likes to run in transition.”
“On paper, we could be unbelievable,” Parker added. “But I keep telling her we’ve got to actually do it in real life.”
The two already have started forming a bond, highlighted by a recent exchange on social media. DeShields responded to a clip on Twitter of her receiving a smooth pass from Parker with this caption: “If you woulda told the 10 yo me this would be my teammate I woulda fell tf out.”
Parker had fun with the response: “Dude YOU JUST AGED me in one tweet. The sincerity was there but you could have left age 10 out.”
Parker is no stranger to playing with talented guards and wings she can play off of in pick-and-rolls. She said her first impressions of DeShields reminded her of playing with Kristi Toliver, who played with Parker for seven seasons in Los Angeles, because of their basketball IQ and impact on the floor.
Although Parker and DeShields could be a lethal offensive combo, Parker also emphasized the havoc they could create defensively.
“Just in terms of her athleticism, I know everybody’s talking on the offensive end, but defensively, we can disrupt some people,” Parker said. “Offensively, it’ll come with time and timing, but defensively is what I don’t think people are talking about in what we can do.”
DeShields said Parker easily will be the most talented and accomplished big she has played with.
“It’s always great when you have a post player that’s a willing and able passer, but Candace, she’s a playmaker,” DeShields said. “If she’s not passing, she’s doing something else with the ball that’s amazing.
“I have no idea what we’ll be able to accomplish. Obviously there’s only one thing that I want to accomplish. That’s for us to be holding that trophy at the end of the season. As long as we’re doing that, everything else that falls in between, I’m OK with too.”
Parker didn’t play Sunday while DeShields started and scored eight points in 21 minutes in the Sky’s 82-65 preseason loss to the host Indiana Fever. The teams meet again Tuesday at Wintrust Arena for another exhibition before the Sky open the regular season Saturday at the Washington Mystics.
During the condensed 2020 season, Parker was in Los Angeles and DeShields appeared in 13 games for the Sky, all off the bench, playing a career-low 17.2 minutes per game before leaving the WNBA bubble early for personal reasons. She never got to follow up on a breakout 2019 season and was hardly a factor last year.
So a fully healthy DeShields for a full season, in addition to signing Parker, might feel like the Sky are getting two major additions.
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“Diamond was one of those players that reminds me a lot of myself personality-wise at that age,” Parker said. “She has this attitude and this air about her and I respect the hell out of it. I love how she competes and I don’t think she realizes how talented she truly is. And it’s going to be fun to continue to grow and play with her.”
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