Candace Parker primed for MVP year as Sparks open Sunday

Sparks forward Candace Parker feels as though her resume is incomplete.

She’s won two Olympic gold medals on Team USA, a Euroleague championship with a Russian team, two NCAA titles with Tennessee and nearly every individual accolade that a player can win, including the WNBA’s most-valuable-player award.

But there’s one thing missing from her checklist: a WNBA championship.

“I think that’s on my mind every day,” Parker said. “That’s the one thing I haven’t been able to accomplish.”

Parker will try to change that in her sixth WNBA season, which begins Sunday as the Sparks play host to the Seattle Storm at Staples Center at 5:30 p.m. (TV: TWCSN, TWC Deportes) in their season opener.

In her five years with the team, the Sparks have never reached the Finals.

In 2011, they also failed to make the playoffs for only the fourth time in franchise history. Last year the Sparks improved with a 24-10 record, only to be swept by Minnesota in the Western Conference Finals.

Those disappointments weigh heavily on Parker, who was drafted first overall by the Sparks in 2008.

“I think other than the obvious, her friends, family, and probably God, I think it’s the most important thing: She’s driven to win that championship,” Sparks Coach Carol Ross said. “When you have players who want to win that badly, then you want to do everything you can to surround them with greatness ... you want to put them in an environment to experience the success that they deserve.”

Parker enters this season with a strong supporting cast, including the core of last year’s team.

She will be playing alongside forward Nneka Ogwumike, last year’s rookie of the year, and guard Kristi Toliver, last year’s most improved player. Ross was last year’s coach of the year in her first season with the Sparks.

In the off-season, the Sparks added point guard Lindsey Harding to the roster, a former All-Star who will give them more speed on the floor, help with spacing and is known as a skilled defender.

“That was one of the biggest off-season acquisitions really in the league,” Ross said. “She’s probably, if not the best defensive point guard in the league, she’s one of them.”

One of the reasons the Sparks have not been in the championship conversation in the last few years is because Parker has missed so many games.

After a breakout rookie season, in which she won both MVP and rookie of the year, Parker played in only 52 of a possible 102 games over the next three seasons because of her pregnancy and a slew of injuries.

Last season, however, Parker missed just one game, while averaging 17.4 points and 9.7 rebounds. During training camp, the 27-year-old Parker said she expects to be on the court for a full season again.

“I’m feeling good,” she said. “I feel like I’m ready to start this season off right. I think it’s definitely going to be a different year.”

That’s in part because of more familiarity with her teammates and coach.

“Last year, I think it took a minute for us to come around because everything was so new, there were new players, there was a new coach, a new system,” Parker said. “This year we shouldn’t have as slow of a start in terms of learning and getting better and improving.”

In a recent poll of the WNBA’s 12 general managers, Parker was selected as the player most likely to win the MVP award this season, although the general managers picked the Phoenix Mercury, with Diana Taurasi and No. 1 draft pick Brittney Griner, as the team most likely to win the title.

Still, Parker was the general managers’ choice for the player with “the greatest hunger to win a championship in 2013.”

“I really feel like it’s important for me personally, [and] for this team to win it,” Parker said.

melissa.rohlin@latimes.com