WNBA's Candace Parker on NBA 2K22 video game cover

Candace Parker grew up playing video games, and now she'll be the first female basketball player on the cover of one.

The Chicago Sky star will appear on the NBA 2K22 cover for the WNBA 25th Anniversary special edition when it's released Sept. 10.

"I grew up a video game fanatic, that's what I did, to the point where my brothers would give me the fake controller when I was younger where I think I was playing and I wasn’t," Parker said. “All I wanted to do was just be like them. As a kid growing up, you dream of having your own shoe and dream of being in a video game. Those are an athlete as a kid's dreams. To be able to experience that, I don’t take it lightly.”

Parker said that when she was just starting in the WNBA in 2008, she might not have appreciated it as much as she does now.

“I think when you're young and experience these type of things, you're onto the next thing,” she said. “As I've gotten older, I've really savored the moment.”

Parker joins an exclusive group of female athletes to adorn covers of sports games. Shawn Johnson was on a Gymnastics by Wii game in 2010, and Jelena Dokic was on a tennis game in the early 2000s.

The 35-year-old former MVP knows there were a lot of players who could have been the first and was humbled that she was the one they chose.

Parker joins Luka Dončić, who was named cover athlete for the game's regular edition, and Kevin Durant, Dirk Nowitzki and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who were recognized as cover athletes for the NBA 75th Anniversary Edition.

While the WNBA will be on an Olympic break for the next month, Parker will be busy. The two-time Olympic gold medalist will be commentating the medal rounds at the Tokyo Games.