Candace Parker reveals Kobe Bryant texted her before the deciding game of the 2016 WNBA Finals, and when he told her not to die with bullets left in the chamber it changed the way she approached her entire career “I wanted my story to be despite. Despite the ten knee surgeries, one shoulder surgery, and two foot surgeries... I still could, and I did.” “Commercial flights, practices at community college gyms... The overseas grind in the offseason. But through that I learned from barely losing, that winning was about attention to detail and the little things.” “In 2016, Game 5, for the title in Minnesota, I get a text from Kobe... He says, ‘Do it the hard way. It’s always better that way. You can’t die with bullets in the chamber.’” “I finally just played that game like I was a kid again. I was free, not worried about the outcome. I really, in fact, just hooped. We won, off an offensive rebound... It turns out Pat was, in fact, right. Offensive rebounds do matter.”