Candace Parker sought advice from Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade before signing with Chicago Sky

Two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player Candace Parker, an all-time great, made headlines last week when ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported that the 34-year-old league legend was leaving the Los Angeles Sparks to return to her hometown and join the Chicago Sky. 

Parker explained on Tuesday that Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant and fellow future Hall of Famer Dwyane Wade helped guide her during the free-agency process. 

"The biggest thing I got from them was, 'You need to follow your heart,'" Parker explained, per Mechelle Voepel of ESPN. "So I think that's what I ultimately did."

Parker earned WNBA Finals MVP honors when she helped the Sparks win the 2016 title, and she won the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year Award in her 13th and final season with the club that selected her first overall in the 2008 draft.

She joined the Sky as an unrestricted free agent. 

"I was brought up as, 'You finish what you start,'" Parker added. "For 13 years, I feel as though I gave everything I had to the Sparks organization, as well as they gave everything they had. I'm not leaving disgruntled. I'm not leaving throwing stuff, or upset or angry or demanding a trade. I'm leaving because contractually, I can go where I want.

"I think player empowerment is something that is super-important and talked about more. I believe that the WNBA and the NBA kind of mimic each other, and [if] my journey gives others the power to do what they want to do, I think it's great. But I want to emphasize, I did finish what I started."