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WNBA ALL-STAR GAME 2019

July 27, 2019

Erica Wheeler

Las Vegas, Nevada - Postgame

Team Wilson - 129, Team Delle Donne - 126

ERICA WHEELER: First off, I just want to say thank you to the WNBA. That's my number one. The journey has been amazing, and I thank my family for it. I obviously thank my mother for it.

My main goal today, and I told Candice Dupree that I don't know how I'm going to be unforgettable, but I want to be unforgettable once we play this game, and I think I did that. What do you guys think? So I think I did that, and my main thing is just to be able to inspire the youth to never give up, and I think I'm a walking never-give-up word. If you go in the dictionary and they say never give up, I think they should put Erica Wheeler because of the path I went. That's all I have to say.

Q. Erica, when you were out there, the first half, your first six shots were all threes, the seventh one looked like it was going down and it didn't. What was it like for you this whole day, tearing up as they gave you the trophy? What was it like for you emotionally playing in this game and then winning the MVP?
ERICA WHEELER: Honestly, I've been speechless. I've been trying to gather my words. Even asked my PR guy Kev, I'm super speechless. But just being able to see the ball go in, I'm a real rhythm shooter, so I seen it go in twice, and we always say, if you get hot, keep going, and I think that's what I did.

Q. I know you said you're speechless, but can you tell us what was going through your mind when you were announced as the MVP and the journey that you've come on and how far you've come and having low moments and things like that? What was going through your mind?
ERICA WHEELER: The first thing I said to myself was like, "Mom, thank you," because more than ever I know she's watching me, and like I tell everybody, what I do and how I do it, I do it for my mom. So that's the first thing I said was thank you, and I said, "Thank you, God," because without him, I'm not here. So that was going through my mind, just to give my mom that praise.

Q. Erica, once they handed you the trophy, it just seemed like a real cathartic moment for you. Can you take us through a moment that wasn't like that, where you just thought, maybe I should walk away from this?
ERICA WHEELER: I don't think I had that moment. I'm more of a live in the moment, however it hit me, and I just think I was super emotional. But I wanted to give the crowd at least a little bit of how I'm feeling and what I wanted to say was to my mom.

Q. You had a big embrace with Candice Dupree right afterwards --
ERICA WHEELER: I love Candice.

Q. What did she say to you and what was that like, and furthermore, the support from all of the players on both teams?
ERICA WHEELER: The first thing she said, she was just like, "I always know that you belonged, I always knew it," and she loved me, and actually I said, "Come out there with me," and she was like, "No, you've got to enjoy this moment on your own because it's your moment." I was like, all right, leave me out there by myself. But I appreciate her acknowledging it.

Q. Other players have been in here and all said they were tearing up. We all saw them. What does it mean to have that sort of love from your peers because they know even more than we do how hard this is to do.
ERICA WHEELER: The crazy thing is before we came to the gym, I was talking to Tina Charles, and she was just like, "How does it feel?" And I was like, what's really important to me is that my peers who I compete with every day, day and night, reach out to me and tell me how proud they are of me and that I belong because everybody got drafted, I didn't get drafted, so for them to show that respect level is amazing. Credit to them, man, because that takes a big heart to say those things to me, so it's credit to them.

Q. Talk about the support from your peers, teammates; what about the fans in Las Vegas? Did you realize from yesterday in the Skills Competition, how did that feel and knowing the support, how many Las Vegas WNBA fans know who you are and how many fans you have worldwide?
ERICA WHEELER: Vegas is big. It's really big. And the crowd in Vegas has always been big, even when we come here and play, so I knew that we would get some love because it's not just about the Vegas players that's here. I knew they would show everybody love. For them to give me that love was super important to me. The crowd was crazy. Credit to Vegas for putting on an amazing event because it's been nothing but great.

Q. Where was your confidence level at going into the game?
ERICA WHEELER: Hmm, I'm real humble, but I'm not going to be humble in this moment right here. (Laughter).

My confidence was through the roof because I had a chip on my shoulder. I knew I was the only undrafted player. I don't have a shoe contract. I don't have no contracts besides the WNBA. So for me it was to make my mark, and I think I did that because nobody is looking at me. I'm a no-name. So I think I left today with a name that everybody can remember. My confidence is through the roof. I don't know how high this roof is, but it's past this roof. (Laughter).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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