Diana Taurasi is retiring, ending a legendary basketball career after 20 WNBA seasons and six Olympic gold medals.
Taurasi, 42, played her entire WNBA career with the Phoenix Mercury.
“I just didn’t have it in me,” to play another season, Taurasi said, according to Time, noting she felt that way on New Year’s Day, when she usually starts preparing. “That was pretty much when I knew it was time to walk away.”
Advertisement
She is the league’s all-time leading scorer (10,646 points, nearly 3,000 more than anybody else) and the only basketball player to win six Olympic medals of any color.
Last July, Taurasi announced that the Paris Olympics would be her final tournament with the national team.
“After Tokyo (2020), I felt like there was more,” she said on NBC after the U.S. beat host France in the gold-medal game. “Being in Paris, the fans, just the Olympic atmosphere, there’s nothing like it. … Time to say goodbye now.”
Advertisement
She then finished the 2024 season with the Mercury without making a definitive statement on her WNBA future until now.
“Mentally and physically, I’m just full,” she said, according to Time. “That’s probably the best way I can describe it. I’m full and I’m happy.”
Taurasi’s six Olympic teams went a combined 44-0. She also won three titles each at UConn and with Phoenix, which drafted her No. 1 overall in 2004.
Advertisement
“Diana Taurasi is one of the greatest competitors to ever play the game of basketball on any stage,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement. “In a record-setting career that saw her play 20 seasons, score more points and make more three-point shots than any player in WNBA history, she has earned the unquestioned respect of players around the globe, delivered electrifying moments and captivated fans again and again.”
Olympische Spiele Athen 2004…
Diana Taurasi hits 20 years on USA Basketball national team, still remembers 2004 voicemail
Diana Taurasi played her first game for the U.S. senior national team on April 9, 2004.
