When the popular computer game NBA 2K launches its brand-new edition on Sept. 10, Chicago Sky super star Candace Parker will make history as the very first WNBA gamer to grace the cover.
Parker, who was chosen as the very first total choice in the 2008 draft, will appear on the cover for the WNBA 25th anniversary scandal sheet of the video game.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” the 35-year-old informed Bloomberg. “Being able to see women on the cover, visible in leadership positions, it helps not just in sport but also just in the boardroom, in business or everything.”
The previous WNBA MVP states she’s “humbled to be the first female cover athlete” and she hopes that “there will be many more badass females to follow.”
Parker signs up with a list of female professional athletes who have actually enhanced the covers of other sports video games consisting of gymnast Shawn Johnson who was on a Gymnastics by Wii video game in 2010 and previous tennis gamer Jelena Dokic who was on the cover of a tennis video game in the early 2000s, according to the Associated Press.
In addition to putting Parker on the cover, Take-Two Interactive, the business that owns NBA 2K, has actually consented to deal with the WNBA to offer the league more direct exposure as it attempts to bring in more fans, sponsorship and sponsors. Right now, due to a variety of elements, consisting of sponsorship and funding, the typical annual money payment for WNBA gamers is approximately $130,000. That’s just a portion of the typical $8.32 million wage NBA gamers made in the 2019-2020 season.
“I think it’s a benchmark of women’s basketball for sure,” Parker informed the Associated Press about her NBA 2K chance. “I think most importantly it speaks to visibility and how important it is and how important the WNBA is…Now more than ever, fans want to follow the athlete. Through social media, through video games, it’s adding and benefiting the WNBA.”
On Wednesday’s episode of “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” Parker shared that remaining in a computer game is a youth imagine hers and while she’s the very first WNBA gamer to make it take place, she undoubtedly hopes that she will not be the last.
“I hope that there’s many more young women and young girls that look and say ‘We can do this,'” she states.
Joined by Parker on the covers of NBA 2K’s brand-new releases will be NBA star Luka Doncic, who will be the cover professional athlete for the video game’s routine edition, and Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who will be the cover professional athletes for the NBA’s 75th anniversary edition.
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