ESPN’s College Gameday Reveals Sparks' Candace Parker as Georgia-Tennessee Guest Picker
Los Angeles Sparks' legend Candace Parker will be the guest picker for Saturday's edition of College Gameday in Knoxville, Tennessee, per ESPN.
Parker joins host Rece Davis and analysts Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, and Nick Saban at the desk near the conclusion of the three-hour show to make an array of game predictions — headlined by Georgia versus Tennessee.
A true Tennessee legend 👏@Candace_Parker won two national titles with the Lady Vols and now she's coming back to Knoxville as this weekend's guest picker 🍊 pic.twitter.com/SWSkLdE7Ax
— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) September 11, 2025
"If you cut me, I bleed orange. That's why I'm so excited that College Gameday is coming to Knoxville," Parker said in a video announcement. "I'm so excited to let the world in on a little secret ... that the Tennessee Volunteers will shock the world."
Parker, during her 13 illustrious seasons spent in L.A., earned Rookie of the Year honors in 2008 and averaged over 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists during her time with the Sparks.
The L.A. icon led the Sparks to a WNBA championship in 2016 — the franchise's third title. Furthermore, she had her No. 3 jersey retired in Crypto.com Arena's rafters earlier this WNBA season, during halftime of a game against the Chicago Sky on June 29.
Parker has also expressed interest in bringing the WNBA to Tennessee — her former collegiate state. An ownership group including Parker, Peyton Manning, Bill and Crissy Haslam, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw submitted a bid for a WNBA expansion team in Nashville on Jan. 30, per a release by the Pat Summitt Leadership Group.
"Tennessee, Nashville needs a team — I'm going to speak it into existence," she said. "We're going to keep trying to get a team and I hope that the WNBA and the NBA sees the value of Nashville being a part of the WNBA."
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Ben Geffner is an award-winning sports journalist and current student at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism. A greater Los Angeles native now with countless years of extensive and dedicated experience — including beat reporting, writing, play-by-play broadcast, television anchoring, podcasting and video production — Ben remains eager to contribute as credentialed media covering the LA Sparks.
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