When Candice Wiggins hung up her jersey and called it quits on her NBA career, the one-time Minnesota Lynx said had no more gas in the tank, and nothing left to prove.
But Wggins is now changing her story, telling a San Diego newspaper that she was bullied for being heterosexual from the time she entered the league, and that her "toxic" experience was the reason she left in her prime.
In an interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune , Wiggins said she was targeted throughout her career for being heterosexual and popular.
"Me being heterosexual and straight, and being vocal in my identity as a straight woman was huge," Wiggins said.
"I wanted to play two more seasons of WNBA, but the experience didn't lend itself to my mental state," Wiggins told the Union Tribune. "It was a depressing state in the WNBA. 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."
Wiggins, who won the sixth woman award and a league championship with the Lynx, claims 98 percent of WNBA players are lesbian and says was disheartened by a culture in the WNBA that encouraged women to look and act like men in the NBA.
"My spirit was being broken.” WNBA Star Candice Wiggins Says She Was Bullied for Being Straight: https://t.co/dXPZdfftap pic.twitter.com/YaXAugHI0d
— EBONY MAGAZINE (@EBONYMag) February 22, 2017
The former shooting guard later told the paper she has received great support for her comments from players and friends inside the league, but there are also those taking her to task. Imani Boyette, who just finished her rookie year with the Chicago Sky, posted a lengthy blog on Wiggins' comments.
"I don't want to silence you Candice. I hope we can have an open dialogue about your experiences. But next time, I hope you ask your journalist to interview someone else who was there with you," Boyette wrote. "I ask that you use real statistics. I ask that you not try to out other women. I ask that you try not to defame a league that gave you your platform, whether you like it or not. I ask that you remember your sisters, your fellow WNBA stars, the young girls coming up after you. The WNBA is about inclusion, always has been and always will be.
Wiggins played eight years in the league with four different teams. She is planning on writing a book that will detail her WNBA experiences in greater detail.