Three Things I Learned From Candace Parker

Candace Parker never had a doubt about what she'd do after she stopped playing -- she's always been about the business. So when she retired earlier this year, she immediately jumped into a number of big roles, including as the president of women's basketball at Adidas, her long-time sponsor. She's also a part of Marc Lasry's Avenue Sports strategy, which is actively investing across the sports ecosystem and has its eye on expansion in both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) . For this week's episode of The Deal, we caught up with Candace in LA for a fun, wide-ranging conversation. Here are just a few things we learned:

She's laser-focused on ownership.?

Parker has been clear about her business goals, with one of them being ownership in both the WNBA and the NBA. Her familiarity with the W speaks for itself -- her three rings come from three different franchises -- and her NBA chops are well-known, too. She's been involved on the media side of the men's game, both in studio and calling games (notably, she was on the team that called the historic LeBron/Bronny season opener this year). And she's got a business partner in Avenue Capital's Marc Lasry with a proven track record: the Milwaukee Bucks Inc. won a championship while he was an owner.

You can influence the game even after you stop playing.?

Candace sees her move to running women's basketball for 阿迪达斯 as an evolution of her strong attachment to basketball. A self-proclaimed sneakerhead from a young age -- she wore everything from T-Macs (an Adidas shoe named for Tracy McGrady) to AIs (for Allen Iverson) -- she knows she can have a strong voice in how sneakers speak to the culture of basketball, on and off the court. And her bosses at Adidas believe the same. "They said, 'We want you to continue to grow the game, but just differently.'"

Ask for specific advice from experts you admire.?

Candace told us she loves asking people for just 20 minutes twice a month, with a discrete topic for each discussion. "Can we go over this deck and you teach me what you've seen?" or "Companies that you passed on. What did you look at?" She equates it with scouting a basketball player or team and watching not just the X's and O's but how a player moves, how they see the floor, whether they're making their teammates better." She's created an elite network of advisers including Lasry, who she first met years back when she gave him a black eye during NBA All-Star Weekend (you have to watch or listen to the episode to get that full story!).

You can hear these lessons and more by listening to The Deal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also tune into the video companion on Bloomberg Originals and on Bloomberg TV. https://link.podtrac.com/0sn3i9w8