Miami native Erica Wheeler to make debut in Unrivaled
WNBA standout Erica Wheeler hasn’t lived in her native Miami since 2009, when she left home to attend Rutgers University on a basketball scholarship.
Things are different now.
Wheeler, 34, has spent this winter in Miami training for Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 professional women’s basketball league that plays all its games in Wayfair Arena, located in Medley.
“Since high school, I haven’t spent more than 30 days straight in Miami,” Wheeler said. “With Unrivaled, I will be here for three months, training and playing in front of my home crowd. It’s going to be special.”
Unrivaled’s season begins Monday, and Wheeler is clearly anxious.
“I hope my first game won’t be a bust because the nerves will kick in,” Wheeler said. “It will probably take me two weeks to settle in.”
To her point, Wheeler hasn’t played in Miami since Dec. 5, 2011, when the Hurricanes beat her Rutgers squad, 92-81, in a classic double-overtime game. Wheeler scored 13 points, including a layup with 1.5 seconds left in regulation, sending the game to overtime.
However, Miami’s Riquna Williams scored 36 points to lead 11th-ranked Miami over No. 9 Rutgers.
More than a decade later, Williams will get another chance in Miami. Unrivaled made its debut in 2025 in Miami with six teams, but the league will play with eight in 2026.
Wheeler, a proud person, wasn’t invited to Unrivaled for 2025. When the invitation came for 2026, Wheeler initially declined.
“You didn’t come get me last year, so I’m going to play in China,” Wheeler told Unrivaled. “I had to let [Unrivaled] know: ‘I’m the only active Miami player in the WNBA, and you don’t even call me?’”
Wheeler finally agreed to play here when Unrivaled made a better offer, and now she’s thrilled to be playing in her hometown.
In the past, she has played in countries like Brazil, France, Russia and Turkey.
“I never thought I’d be able to travel the world playing the game I love,” Wheeler said. “It’s unheard of coming from Liberty City like I did.
“My mom being a single parent, raising three kids … I saw her grind to make things happen for us.”
Wheeler said her mother, Melissa Cooper — who died of cancer when Erica was a senior in college — has always been her inspiration.
“That’s what drove me,” Wheeler said. “I had to repay her.”
Speaking of payment, Wheeler said she has done well for herself financially, and she’s not worried about the current lack of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the WNBA and its players.
“You’re crazy as hell if you don’t think I have millions put away,” Wheeler said. “I’m good. I have a great [financial] team around me.
“I’ve been blessed to maximize the money I’ve made. I own two restaurants in Atlanta, and I’m into real estate.”
If there is no new CBA and the WNBA season is delayed or cancelled, Wheeler said she will keep playing ball at a park or wherever.
“It would be stupid for the league not to exist [in 2026],” Wheeler said of the WNBA, which has never had a work stoppage in its 28-year history. “That would be suicidal.”
Wheeler describes herself as an “energetic point guard who can score, pass and defend.”
She went undrafted in 2013 and didn’t crack a WNBA roster until two years later with the Atlanta Dream. She joined Indiana in 2016, and, in 2019, still with the Fever, Wheeler created a career highlight by becoming the first undrafted player to be named MVP of the All-Star Game.
Wheeler missed the 2020 season after testing positive for COVID and suffering from fluid buildup around her heart. She played with Los Angeles in 2021 and Atlanta (again) in 2022.
Then, in 2023, Wheeler started all 40 games for the Fever. But in 2024, she played 37 of her 39 games off the bench as she made way for Caitlin Clark’s transformative rookie season with Indiana.
“She had an impact on the league we haven’t seen in a long while,” Wheeler said of Clark. “She put people on notice about the league.
“I told her from the beginning that I was there to help. I was her big sister, and she embraced me.”
Even so, Wheeler said her move to the bench could have been handled better.
“When a kid [Clark] has that kind of fame and plays your same position …” Wheeler said. “Did I get caught in the line of that? Absolutely, but I was prepared, and I will forever support Caitlin.”
Wheeler played last season with Seattle, and the Storm lost in the first round of the playoffs, 2-1, to the eventual league champion Las Vegas Aces. In the deciding game against Vegas, Wheeler had a team-high-tying 16 points in a 74-73 loss.
Going forward, Wheeler said she believes she has two years left in her hoops career.
“I’m like an old car,” Wheeler said. “If you leave the car running, it runs good. But the day after a game, my knees hurt. My feet hurt.
“But once I’m warmed up, I’m a Ferrari.”
Here’s a team-by-team look at some of the top players who have agreed to compete in Unrivaled 2026:
▪ Breeze: Led by young stars Paige Bueckers and Cameron Brink;
▪ Hive: Led by Sonia Citron, who was an All-Star this year as a rookie;
▪ Laces: Led by four-time All-Star and three-time WNBA champion Jackie Young and six-time All-Star Alyssa Thomas;
▪ Lunar Owls: Led by seven-time All-Star Skylar Diggins;
▪ Mist: Led by seven-time All-Star and three-time WNBA champion Breanna Stewart and four-time All-Star Arike Ogunbowale;
= Phantom: Led by four-time All-Star and two-time WNBA champion Kelsey Plum and three-time All-Star Satou Sabally;
▪ Rose: Led by Chelsea Gray, a six-time All-Star and a four-time WNBA champion.
▪ Vinyl: Wheeler will play with Brittney Griner, a 10-time WNBA All-Star and a two-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year.