After nine seasons, Erin Phillips ends her WNBA career
By Mike Peden
After her release from the Dallas Wings last week, Erin Phillips has chosen to retire from the WNBA. The announcement was published on The Advertiser, an Australian newspaper.
According to the article, Phillips is stepping away from the WNBA to focus on her burgeoning career in AFL Women’s (Australian Football League) and spend more time with her family in Dallas; Phillips and her wife are raising twin infants.
In her nine years of WNBA competition, Phillips alternated between starter and bench player. She never averaged more than 8.6 points per game in a season, but she gained a fearsome reputation for knocking down three-pointers. From 2011 through 2014, Phillips ranked ninth or higher in three-point field goal percentage, and she led the league in that category in 2014. Her perimeter presence offered a proverbial ticket to a pair of WNBA championships, one with Indiana in 2012, and another with Phoenix in 2014.
In a career that spanned 229 games, Phillips accumulated 1,454 points, 507 rebounds and 211 three-point field goals. Altogether, she played for five teams, starting with Connecticut in 2006. The 31-year-old went to Dallas last year following a trade with Los Angeles, and news of her waiving was surprising to the WNBA community.
Phillips is far from finished in athletics, however. This past winter, Phillips joined Adelaide for the inaugural AFL Women’s season, becoming an instant sensation. She received MVP honors en route to Adelaide’s league championship.
Phillips could also return to basketball in the future, maintaining her availability for the Australian national team. She won a gold medal for Australia in the 2006 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, and picked up a silver medal two years later at the Olympic Games in Beijing.