Candace Parker says her 'memeable expressions' during games and as a TV analyst are 'a gift and a curse'

• Candace Parker is one of the WNBA's top superstars and a respected NBA television analyst for TNT.
• She's also the proud owner of one of the most "memeable" faces in sports if not the whole internet.
• Parker told Insider that her unmistakable, unmissable expressions are "a gift and a curse."

Candace Parker is a walking meme.

And she knows it.

"If you wanna know what I think, just look at my face," Parker told Insider.

Between her illustrious professional basketball career and her recent work as an NBA television analyst for TNT, the two-time WNBA champion and two-time league MVP has watched herself become a meme — "an image, a video, a piece of text, etc. that is passed very quickly from one internet user to another, often with slight changes that make it humorous," per Oxford Learner's Dictionaries — on several occasions.

Make a big play? Meme.

—ESPN (@espn) October 10, 2021

TV co-host — usually Shaq — says something questionable? Meme.

—????????????. (@victoriamcbryde) December 22, 2021

 

A referee makes a bad call mid-game? Meme.

—The Sky Show CHI (@TheSkyShowCHI) July 14, 2021

 

Become the face of a major video game franchise? Meme.

—Matt Ellentuck (@mellentuck) July 20, 2021

Watch a particularly close March Madness contest? Meme.

—meredith minkow (@murrminks) March 23, 2022

She comes by it honestly.

"I've always had memeable expressions," Parker said. "It's a gift and a curse. It just happens."

"My daughter has a lot of fun with it, I'll tell you that," she added with a laugh, referring to her 13-year-old, Lailaa.

Parker has leaned into her status as the internet's meme queen. She put her unparalleled reactions to good use in a recent commercial for CarMax, when a representative for the company is "on the mic, and he's shouting out" Parker's height and hometown as if introducing her for a game:

"It works in my favor sometimes," Parker said. "But other times, it's just a dinner table making fun of me or laughing at me."

Fans can catch her meme-worthy moments on "NBA on TNT" and during the upcoming WNBA season. Parker, who signed with the Las Vegas Aces in a surprise free agency move this offseason, is set to make her debut with the reigning champions on May 20.