October 4, 2008 - Twenty two-year-old Candace Parker received the WNBA’s most valuable player award last night, becoming the first player in the league’s 12 year history to win the award along with rookie of the year honors.
The awards capped a big run for Parker, who was college player of the year for national champion Tennessee. Parker also was a member of the gold-medal winning U.S. team in the Beijing Olympics.
Parker was the only player in the league to pull down more than nine rebounds per game. Parker also led the league in double-doubles with 17 and ranked among WNBA leaders in rebounds per game (first), blocks per game (second), points per game (fourth), field goal percentage (fifth), minutes player (seventh) and assists per game (17th).
Parker joined some elite company on Friday as she became the first women’s basketball player and only the third basketball player ever to win Rookie of the Year and MVP honors in the same year – joining Wilt Chamberlain (1959-60) and Wes Unseld (1968-69).
In honor of being named the WNBA Most Valuable Player, Parker will pocket $15,000 and a trophy.
When asked by WNBA.com what she’ll do you do for an encore, CP laughed and answered “Win a championship.”
With that said, we can’t wait for next season!
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