<figure class="wp-image size-full">
					<img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2017/05/Phillips1440.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image- size-full"/> 
				</figure>
Arlington, TX– The Dallas Wings announced today that the team has waived guard Erin Phillips.
The Wings will tip off the 2017 season, on the road against the Phoenix Mercury on May 14 at 5 p.m. CT, before their home opener vs. Minnesota on May 20 at 7 p.m. CT at the College Park Center located on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. Season and single-game tickets are now available by calling 817.469.9464 or by visiting dallaswings.com.

dallas-wings-waive-guard-erin-phillips

Dallas Wings Waive Guard Erin Phillips

<figure class="wp-image size-full">
					<img decoding="async" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2016/08/160802_taylor-phillips_1440.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image- size-full"/> 
				</figure>
The Australian Women&#8217;s National Basketball Team is seeking an elusive first-ever gold at this summer&#8217;s Olympics. But upgrading their silvers from 2000, 2004 and 2008, and bronzes in 1996 and 2012 requires, of course, going through the U.S. Women&#8217;s National Team that has captured the last five golds.
When Australia fell to the U.S. in the Gold Medal game in 2008 &#8212; the teams&#8217; third straight championship matchup &#8212; Lauren Jackson was in her prime, averaging 17.3 points and 8.6 rebounds during the tournament. Eight years later, Jackson&#8217;s now retired, <a href="http://wnba.com/video/access-lauren-jacksons-special-day-seattle/">fresh off her No. 15 being raised to the rafters</a> by the Seattle Storm. As a result, Australia is still searching for a new identity.
There&#8217;s no question who will lead the Opals into this new era: 13-year WNBA veteran Penny Taylor, who missed the 2012 Summer Games due to injury, but is strutting to the Olympics with the hot hand. Her scoring average of 13.3 points per game for the Phoenix Mercury is her highest since 2011 (16.7), while her 42.6-percent mark from deep represents the third-best mark of her career (44.2 in 2010).
And her Olympic quest took on even more meaning when, before departing for Rio, <a href="http://wnba.com/news/penny-taylors-retirement/">she announced that this WNBA season would be her last</a> as a basketball player.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
One more go- Australian Penny Taylor&#39;s big announcement, what it means moving forward. MORE: <a href="https://t.co/hJlZ0PdDfp">https://t.co/hJlZ0PdDfp</a> <a href="https://t.co/EvJrIMg1Iw">pic.twitter.com/EvJrIMg1Iw</a>
&mdash; WNBA (@WNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WNBA/status/760203541348843520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
While Australia has seven first-time Olympians, Taylor is well-equipped to carry the load. She stepped up to the tune of 14.8 points per game during the team&#8217;s silver medal run in the 2004 Games, when the Opals started 7-0 and fell to the U.S. in a final game rematch, 74-63.
As her return to the Games nears, Taylor is ready to represent her country and lead the tight-knight group. &#8220;It&#8217;s super exciting to play with younger talent that&#8217;s going to be our future. Since this will be my last go, I want to make sure going forward that we have a super competitive team, and we do,&#8221; Taylor told WNBA.com. &#8220;We have a lot of leaders on our team. It&#8217;s a matter of everyone doing their part.&#8221;
In that vein, Taylor will be joined by a fellow WNBA standout who also missed the 2012 Olympics. Four years ago, Dallas Wings guard Erin Phillips received the crushing news that she had not been selected to compete. The disappointment of 2012 makes her journey to Rio that much sweeter.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/DWingsHoops?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DWingsHoops</a>, Erin Phillips warming up before Australia takes on Canada. <a href="https://t.co/hZEwydEOmO">https://t.co/hZEwydEOmO</a>
&mdash; WNBA (@WNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WNBA/status/758401546694582272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I can&#8217;t really describe it,&#8221; Phillips told WNBA.com. &#8220;It&#8217;s been a hard road to get back into the team again. I&#8217;m disappointed after missing out on London, so I&#8217;m very, very grateful and humbled for this opportunity.&#8221;
Still, Phillips said wearing the green and gold is &#8220;enough to motivate you to do absolutely anything you can to win.&#8221; She&#8217;s done her part as a National Team contributor during Australia&#8217;s World Championships victory in 2006, the 2008 Olympics and the 2014 World Championships.
Originally drafted by the Connecticut Sun in 2006, Phillips is in her ninth WNBA season with her fifth different team. The 5-8 guard has appeared in 23 games during the Wings&#8217; first season in Dallas, averaging 5.3 points while shooting 40.9% from deep. Her WNBA career peaked with titles in 2012 (Indiana Fever) and 2014, when she joined Taylor and Australian head coach Sandy Brondello &#8212; a former Opal herself &#8212; on the Phoenix Mercury.
With Taylor by her side once again, Australia boasts one of the sweetest-shooting backcourts in the tournament. Plus, &#8220;I&#8217;m finally understanding some accents,&#8221; Phillips joked.
&#8220;Australia is home,&#8221; she added. &#8220;When I look down the bench and see these girls, they remind me of home.&#8221;

penny-taylor-erin-phillips-australia-basketball-olympics

Taylor, Phillips Key to Australia's Golden Dreams

erin-phillips-with-the-nice-dish-vs-the-sparks

Erin Phillips with the nice dish vs. the Sparks

3-pts-made-by-erin-phillips

3-pts Made by Erin Phillips

top-play-by-erin-phillips-vs-the-liberty-2

Top Play by Erin Phillips vs. the Liberty

top-play-by-erin-phillips-vs-the-liberty

erin-phillips-gets-to-16-points-vs-the-mystics

Erin Phillips gets to 16 Points vs. the Mystics

erin-phillips-beats-the-buzzer-vs-the-mystics

Erin Phillips beats the buzzer vs. the Mystics

erin-phillips-2015-season-highlights

Erin Phillips 2015 Season Highlights

Latest

Erin Phillips

WNBA CAREER CAPSULE
WNBA Champion (2012, 2014)
League Leader in three-point shooting percentage (2014)
CAREER
2015
Averaged 6.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 12 regular season games played – single-season career-high in assists per game… Recorded 400th career assist on June 16 against Minnesota… Tallied 10 points and five assists in consecutive games on June 6 and June 14… Scored a season-high 20 points on July 5 against Phoenix… Made Sparks debut in the season opener on June 6 versus Seattle… Missed 18 games due to injury from June 21 through June 28 and July 29 through September 11… Signed by the Los Angeles Sparks on February 11, 2015…
2014
Appeared in 33 games for the Phoenix Mercury, starting 10 games…Led the WNBA in three-point field goal percentage this season shooting 44.9 percent…As a starter averaged 8.6 points, 3.5 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game…Off the bench averaged 4.5 points, 1.6 assists and 1.3 rebounds per game…Tied a career high with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting on August 13 at Atlanta…Dished out 72 assists to 39 turnovers…Dished a career-high seven assists twice… Played in all eight playoff games averaging 3.5 points, career-high 2.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 15.1 minutes per game.
2013
Appeared in 18 games (six starts) for the Indiana Fever and despite battling a knee injury averaged
5.9 points and 1.6 assists in 21.3 minutes…Shot a career-high 47.9 percent from three-point range… In her first start of the season on Aug. 10 against Atlanta, made a career-high five three-pointers.
2012
Played in 29 games for the Fever, missing a pair of games with a concussion and three more during Australian National Team training…Started in eight games including the last three games of the season, where she
played over 30 minutes…Led all scorers at Washington on September 21, with a season-high 19 points, adding five rebounds, three assists and three steals in 38 minutes of play…Shot 43.8 percent from 3-point range, third best in the WNBA…Tied her career scoring mark with 21 points, shooting 7-of-15 from the field and 4-of-7 from behind the arc against Tulsa on September 23…Played in all 10 Fever playoff games, starting in nine…Averaged 10.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game…Scored in double-figures in seven games, including career highs of 18-point and eight rebounds in Game 4 of the Finals against Minnesota on October 21…Led the Fever with a 51.7 percent shooting clip from 3-point range, hitting 15-of-29 attempts to set a team record…Hit at least one 3-pointer in each of the club’s final six playoff games, combining to make 7-of-15 (.467) during the WNBA Finals…Combined for 16 assists and six steals and just 10 turnovers in the playoffs
2011
Appeared in 31 games, starting 22 for the Indiana Fever…Averaged a career-best 8.6 points per game…Scored a career-high 21 points twice at Atlanta July 19 and August 30…Tied a career-high eight rebounds at Chicago on August 17…Ranked eighth in the WNBA with a mark of 42.6 percent (26-of-61) from beyond the 3-point line
2009
Played in 32 of 34 games with the Connecticut Sun starting 18, averaging 8.1 points and tying for the team lead with 43 steals…Scored in double figures 11 times and had a season-best with 19 points at Detroit on July 5…Corralled 103 rebounds (3.2 rpg), also her best in a single season and she was second on the team with 66 assists…Had a season-high six rebounds four times and collected at least four rebounds 14 times…Claimed multiple steals in 12 games… Had a career-high seven assists twice during the season…
2008
After training with the Australian National Team, and leading it to a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Phillips returned to the Connecticut Sun for the final eight games of the WNBA regular season, averaging 5.3 ppg on 13-of-28 shooting overall (.464), 6-of-12 3-point shooting and 9-of-11 (.818) at the free throw stripe…Scored 18 points, a career-high eight rebounds and no turnovers in the season finale vs. Washington, 9/13
2007
Sat out the entire 2007 WNBA season while rehabilitating from a torn ACL in her right knee sustained during a collision with Tully Bevilaqua, in a game between her Adelaide Lightning and the Canberra Capitals on January 20
2006
One of only three Connecticut Sun players to appear in every game and started 13 games after Nykesha Sales was forced out of the lineup with a sore Achilles tendon…Averaged 5.4 points, 2.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 18.4 minutes per game…Was fourth on the team with 29 steals and tied for second with 80 assists… Scored in double figures four times in the final 11 games
PERSONAL
Erin Victoria Phillips has two sisters, Rachel and Amy, two nieces, Ashlee and Chloe, and a nephew, Ky…Her biggest thrill outside basketball was becoming an aunt…Lists her sports hero as her father, Greg, a former professional Australian Rules Football star who was listed among the 22 greatest players in the 130-year history of the Port Adelaide club during a ceremony in June of 2000…Lists “Wedding Crashers” and “Kill Bill” as her favorite movies…Favorite food is mom’s cooking and sushi…Would like to become a boundary commentator for Australian Rules Football someday…Loves animals, music, playing the guitar, surfing and being at the beach…When not in Australia, she owns a home in McKinney, Texas
CAREER TRANSACTIONS:
Selected by the Connecticut Sun in the second round (21st overall) of the 2005 draft
Signed by the Seattle Storm as a free agent on February 9, 2011
Acquired by Fever with 2012 second-round draft pick from the Seattle Storm in exchange for 2012 second-round draft pick (to Seattle) and 2012 third-round pick (to Washington) on April 29, 2011
Acquired by the Phoenix Mercury with 2014 second-round draft pick from the Indiana Fever in exchange for Lynetta Kizer and 2014 first-round pick on March 11, 2014
Signed by the Los Angeles Sparks as a free agent on February 12, 2015
Acquired by the Dallas Wings along with a 2017 first round draft pick through a trade with the Los Angeles Sparks in exchange for Riquna Williams on March 1, 2016.