After two decades as a WNBA star, Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi announced her retirement on Tuesday.
Taurasi, 42, leaves the sport as one of its most iconic figures after winning three championships, becoming the league’s all-time leading scorer, earning six gold medals with Team USA and making 11 WNBA All-Star Game appearances. With a flair for heroic plays and her trademark bun hairstyle, she was voted by fans in 2021 as the WNBA’s Greatest of All Time.
Taurasi told Time that while she will miss the competition, she came to the realization on New Year’s Day that “I knew it was time to walk away.
“Mentally and physically, I’m just full,” she said. “That’s probably the best way I can describe it. I’m full and I’m happy.”
Taurasi’s longevity was a testament to her hard work, competitiveness and, of course, talent. She handled the highest of expectations at every step — from winning three NCAA championships in four seasons at UConn, where she twice earned Player of the Year honors, to her selection as the No. 1 pick in the 2004 draft. She helped rechart the future of the Mercury franchise and brought new excitement to the WNBA, which wasn’t even a decade old when she entered it.
Geno Auriemma, who coached Taurasi at UConn, said that her ability to win on every level she played set her apart. “In my opinion, what the greats have in common is, they transcend the sport and become synonymous with the sport,” he said in a statement. “For as long as people talk about college basketball, WNBA basketball, Olympic basketball, Diana is the greatest winner in the history of basketball, period.”
Taurasi’s records include being the first WNBA player to score 10,000 career points, becoming the oldest player in either the NBA or WNBA to score 40 points in a game and her overall point total, 10,646.
It didn’t take long for Taurasi to make an imprint on the WNBA. As the seconds ticked down toward halftime of her first contest against the now-defunct Sacramento Monarchs, she threw up a shot that would serve as a preamble for the ensuing two decades. She banked in a half-court heave, recording the first highlight in a career full of them. “It’s not hype — Taurasi is the real deal,” The Arizona Republic headline read the next day.
Taurasi, the WNBA’s oldest active player in 2024, enjoyed a career that spanned multiple evolutions of the league. She entered when the WNBA had 14 teams, many of which relocated or folded due to poor team economics and ownership mismanagement. She leaves the WNBA that now hopes to expand to 16 teams by 2028 and recently agreed to a new landmark media rights deal that is worth more than $2 billion.
Her longevity, too, became part of her greatness. For instance, two years ago, Taurasi recalled hosting the Mercury’s interim coach on a college recruiting visit. Last season, Taurasi suited up alongside guard Celeste Taylor, who was born just months before Taurasi won her first NCAA Tournament title.
Through it all, Taurasi continued to astound on the court. She made All-Star (and Olympic) appearances across three decades and led the Mercury to the WNBA Finals as recently as 2021. Though her scoring dipped to 14.9 points per game last year, her lowest ever in a season in which she played more than 20 games, Taurasi still confounded opponents and was an important focus on scouting reports.
“She is a stone-cold killer, crazy competitor. Can’t-see-straight kind of competitor,” said Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, who has faced Taurasi as both a WNBA opponent and opposing coach. “And then you have the skill set, the work ethic. So those are all the makings of a GOAT.”
Taurasi was not only renowned in America, but also internationally, where she won six EuroLeague championships and seven Russian league titles. She notably sat out the 2015 WNBA season at the request of her Russian club, UMMC Ekaterinburg, who paid her more to rest that summer season than the Mercury did at the time (around $100,000) to play in America.
Phoenix returned to the postseason last season under first-year coach Nate Tibbetts after missing the playoffs in 2023 for the first time in a decade. They were swept out of the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Lynx, and the franchise has undergone a number of notable changes this offseason. Ten-time WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner signed with the Atlanta Dream in free agency, moving on from Phoenix for the first time after being the No. 1 pick in the 2013 WNBA Draft.
The Mercury also orchestrated significant trades, seemingly with an eye toward the future, adding two-time All-WNBA first-team forward Alyssa Thomas and 2023 first-team All-WNBA forward Satou Sabally.
Taurasi’s exit is drastically different from Sue Bird, her college teammate, and long-time WNBA competitor and close friend. While Bird, a four-time WNBA champion and the WNBA’s all-time assist leader, enjoyed a retirement tour during the 2022 season, Taurasi’s retirement lacked much of the fanfare (though the Mercury began sending hints about her possible retirement on social media toward the end of last season.
Even without Taurasi on the court after the season, her legacy will remain in Phoenix. In 2017, the city renamed a stretch of the street in front of their home arena to Taurasi Way. The ceremony occurred just weeks after Taurasi passed Tina Thompson as the WNBA’s all-time scoring leader in 2023.
“The best athlete that we’ve ever had in the Phoenix sports scene is Diana Taurasi,” U.S. Representative Greg Stanton told Sports Illustrated in 2021. “There’s no doubt about it.”
Last July, the Mercury unveiled a new $100 million practice facility and dedicated its two courts with her name and inspired logos.
“The Phoenix Mercury are not the Phoenix Mercury without Diana Taurasi,” Mercury and Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia said then. “She’s a legend of all legends.”
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Phoenix Mercury, WNBA
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