WNBA Legend Diana Taurasi Has Retired
After 20 seasons and 565 games, Diana Taurasi has played her final game in a WNBA uniform. She walks away from the game at age 42 as the league’s all-time leading scorer with 10,646 points. She won the league MVP in 2009 and led her team to a championship in 2007, 2009 and 2014. Taurasi played every minute of her illustrious career in a Phoenix Mercury uniform.
Taurasi is one of the most talented players to ever touch a basketball. Her prowess on the court is found in her prolific shooting and crafty passing. Her antics on the court are just as notable. Taurasi is an entertainer. She puts on a show with her game and with her personality. During a game in 2013, Taurasi found herself in a disagreement with fellow All-Star Seimone Augustus from the Minnesota Lynx. The two started jawing at each other and got progressively closer before Taurasi gave her a kiss on the lips, which earned each player a technical foul.
Taurasi is such a unique player in her approach. Every game is simultaneously good fun and the most important game of her life. She played with so much fire in her career and was undeniable when it came to success. Everywhere Taurasi went, she would win. She won three consecutive championships in college at the University of Connecticut. She is also the winningest basketball player in Olympic history, having won six gold medals.
Her style also became iconic. Every game, she sported a tight bun and long shorts that went past her knees. As the collective style has trended toward shorter shorts in the WNBA, Taurasi has remained true to her roots. Her loyalty extended beyond fashion—she never left Phoenix, cementing her status as one of the greatest franchise players in sports history.
Beyond her on-court excellence, Taurasi’s impact on women’s basketball is immeasurable. She helped push the game forward, inspiring countless young players to play with confidence, skill and swagger. Her ability to balance humor with an unrelenting drive to win made her one of the most beloved figures in WNBA history. Few athletes have embodied the spirit of competition quite like Taurasi, who thrived in pressure moments and never shied away from the biggest stage.
Now, Taurasi rides off into the sunset, following in the footsteps of her college teammate Sue Bird, who retired two years prior. With the massive rise of the WNBA this past season and the upward projections of that popularity on the horizon, it’s important not to brush off what Taurasi did for the game. Her dominance, longevity and spunk will be dearly missed in Phoenix and in arenas across the league. As the WNBA continues to grow, her legacy will live on, inspiring a new generation of players who watched her redefine what it means to be a winner. She wasn’t just a basketball player—she was an icon, a legend and the heart and soul of the Phoenix Mercury.