MONEY in the BANK

From their pregame fits to their sparkling new facilities, the Las Vegas Aces are pacing the WNBA-and maybe reinventing women's sports.

- EMMA CARMICHAEL

SOMETIMES, CANDACE PARKER has a hard time believing it's real.

The WNBA star has spent 16 seasons in the league, where she's been named to seven All-Star teams and has won two championships. Parker has played professionally in Russia, China, and Turkey, and she's won two gold medals with the U.S. Olympic team, as well as two national championships at the University of Tennessee. At 37, the 6'4" forward is one of the league's all-time leading scorers, and is considered one of the greatest players in the history of the sport.

So by the time Parker shocked the league by leaving her hometown team, Chicago Sky, to sign with the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in February, it was safe to assume she'd seen it all. What else could possibly be left? But that was before Parker and her teammates had set foot in the Aces' brand-new practice facility-the first of its kind-and headquarters in Henderson, Nevada, for preseason training last spring.