Los Angeles Sparks Basketball Team

Candace Parker is wearing a simple white dress and the biggest smile imaginable. She is cradling her belly, which carries her unborn child, as she poses for this cover of a magazine aimed at readers who expect to see LeBron or Manny. But on the cover of the issue of ESPN the Magazine that will be on newsstands Friday it is Parker, the Sparks star, who will look the buyer in the eye beside the headline, "How Big Can Candace Parker Get?"

Candace Parker spoke with a non-stop giggle in her voice. She is in Chicago, staying with her family as she prepares for the birth of her first child with her new husband, Sacramento Kings basketball player Shelden Williams. Parker on Friday talked publicly for the first time since announcing she and Williams, who eloped last November, are expecting and that she probably will miss a part of the Sparks season, which begins in May.

WNBA general managers, in a survey conducted by the league, predict the Sparks not only will win the WNBA title but the top two player awards will also belong to the Sparks. Five of the 12 general managers participating in the survey picked the Sparks to win their third league championship, while the Seattle Storm and defending champion Phoenix Mercury tied for second with two votes each.

PHOENIX -- Candace Parker had some jitters in her WNBA debut. It sure didn't show. Parker scored 34 points, the most in a WNBA debut, and grabbed 12 rebounds to help the Sparks beat the defending champion Phoenix Mercury, 99-94, on Saturday. The previous high in a WNBA debut was 25 points by Cynthia Cooper in 1997. "It obviously was better than I expected," said the 6-foot-4 Parker, who led Tennessee to back-to-back national titles. "Coming out, I just wanted to play hard.

ATLANTA -- Eight days after a record-breaking 34-point debut by rookie Candace Parker, the Sparks went back to routine business Sunday with a 74-56 victory over the expansion Atlanta Dream. DeLisha Milton-Jones scored 15 points, Lisa Leslie added 14, and Parker and Marie Ferdinand-Harris each had 12 for the Sparks (2-0), who led 41-21 by halftime and never trailed. Leslie also contributed 10 rebounds and six blocked shots.

at Indiana, 4 p.m. PDT Site -- Conseco Fieldhouse. Radio -- 1150 (7 p.m., delayed) Records -- Sparks 2-0; Fever 2-1. Record vs. Fever (2007) -- 0-2. Update -- After playing only two games since the season started 12 days ago, the Sparks are scheduled to play four over the next nine days, concluding with their home opener June 6 against the Phoenix Mercury. In their latest victory, a 74-56 win Sunday at Atlanta, four starters scored in double figures, led by DeLisha Milton-Jones with 15.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Tan White scored 11 of her 20 points in the second overtime, and the Indiana Fever held off the Sparks, 82-78, on Thursday night to hand Candace Parker her first professional loss. Parker had 16 points, 16 rebounds, six blocked shots, five assists and five steals. The rookie from Tennessee scored six points in the final minute of the second overtime to keep the Sparks in the game. It was a wild game that featured failed dunk attempts by Parker and Lisa Leslie.

WASHINGTON -- Candace Parker had 15 points and 11 rebounds Saturday for her third double-double in four games as the Sparks defeated the Washington Mystics, 70-59. The Sparks (3-1) led by as many as 16 in the third quarter but fell behind by a point on Nakia Sanford's putback with just over six minutes left in the game. However, Los Angeles closed with an 18-6 run to extend its strong start while opening the season on a five-game trip.