Eight-year pro Candice Wiggins retired from the WNBA almost a year ago, and the 30-year-old is now pursuing a career in volleyball. Wiggins played for four teams in her career, averaging 8 points a game. She was part of the Minnesota Lynx’s 2011 championship team and won the Sixth Woman of the Year award in her rookie season.
Wiggins, in an interview with the San Diego Tribune, says she wanted to play two more seasons in the W, but the “depressing” state of the league didn’t allow her to.
It’s not watched. Our value is diminished. It can be quite hard. I didn’t like the culture inside the WNBA, and without revealing too much, it was toxic for me. … My spirit was being broken.
Wiggins also claims she was bullied and targeted because she’s straight.
“Me being heterosexual and straight, and being vocal in my identity as a straight woman was huge,” Wiggins said. “I would say 98 percent of the women in the WNBA are gay women. It was a conformist type of place. There was a whole different set of rules they (the other players) could apply.
“There was a lot of jealousy and competition, and we’re all fighting for crumbs,” Wiggins said. “The way I looked, the way I played – those things contributed to the tension.
“People were deliberately trying to hurt me all of the time. I had never been called the B-word so many times in my life than I was in my rookie season. I’d never been thrown to the ground so much. The message was: ‘We want you to know we don’t like you.’”
The Chicago Sky’s Imani Boyette and Monique Currie San Antonio Stars were quick to speak up in opposition of Wiggins’ statements.
