LOS ANGELES -- At this point, after all that has happened in the past year, this latest insult barely registers. Ten players were named to the WNBA's first and second teams on Friday, and not one of them was the woman who is still considered by many to be one of the best female basketball players in the world: Candace Parker.
Less than a week earlier, she'd been honored pregame as one of the 20 best players in the 20-year history of the WNBA, and somehow, at age 30, after leading Los Angeles to the WNBA Finals, she wasn't even recognized as one of the 10 best players in the league after a season in which she finished top 10 in points, rebounds, assists and steals?
It's ridiculous. But this is what happens when a star female athlete doesn't play the role that's been expected of her.
Parker hasn't won WNBA championships like she was expected to coming out of the University of Tennessee. Perhaps she's complained a bit too often for some tastes about working conditions or the need for physical and mental rest after year-round competition. She most assuredly didn't kiss the rings of the officials in charge of the Olympic team selection process, who could get away with leaving her off the squad that competed in Rio de Janeiro because the United States is so much better than the rest of the world that it can win without her.
Yes, Parker can be inconsistent in her effort and play. But based on ability, production and talent, she's still one of the best two or three players in the women's game. So how in the world can she be left off the Olympic team and the all-WNBA teams?
All season Parker has had to control her anger and disappointment at these slights.
All season, she's kept it inside.
She couldn't let these insults become the latest reason she hasn't won a WNBA championship after an illustrious career at Tennessee.
Her legacy is on the line. One more win, and the title she's been searching for the past nine years will be hers. One more win, and all the dislocated shoulders, knee surgeries and ankle sprains will be worth it.
That Maya Moore stands in the way of Parker's actualizing on the great promise she entered the league with as the No. 1 overall pick in 2008 is kind of perfect. Moore has had the career Parker was expected to have. The former Connecticut star, in her sixth season, already has three titles and an MVP award.
Moore has also had a more stable, well-run organization and talented rosters with longtime co-stars Seimone Augustus, Sylvia Fowles and Lindsay Whalen. The Lynx have been one of the WNBA's best franchises. The Sparks nearly moved two years ago before a group led by the Los Angeles Dodgers' owners stepped in to buy them at the last minute.
The Sparks wouldn't be poised to win the WNBA Finals without Parker, and frankly, they won't be able to finish off Minnesota without Parker at her absolute best. She's the engine who drives everything for L.A. Which is not a knock on the relentless Nneka Ogwumike, the WNBA's MVP, but more a reflection of Parker's unique all-around game. Think of Ogwumike as Draymond Green and Parker as some sort of combination of Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala.
For L.A. to win, Parker has to make her teammates better and be dominant at both ends of the court. She must create for others and herself. She must defend and rebound and force steals.
Moore has to be phenomenal as well, but Minnesota has the depth and talent to survive an off night or off half from Moore. In Game 1, for example, Moore was scoreless in the first half. But the Lynx kept the game close because Whalen got it going.
Parker has been fully aware of what's expected of her throughout her WNBA career: carry the league, her team, women's sports. Become a crossover star in the second-largest media market in the country. Win titles and MVP awards.
Oh, and be quiet as the Sparks lurched aimlessly from one owner to the next. Say nothing and stay classy when she's snubbed by the Olympic team.
Raise her daughter, Laila. Mourn her friend, coach and mentor, Pat Summitt.
It is a familiar burden for the gifted and talented. An impossible standard that Parker has paid a heavy price for not conforming to.
She can change that Sunday. All eyes, as always, will be on her.