Diana Taurasi is officially retiring from basketball, the WNBA legend told TIME Magazine on Tuesday, capping off a decorated and lengthy college and professional career.
"Mentally and physically, I’m just full," Taurasi said in the exclusive interview. "That’s probably the best way I can describe it. I’m full and I’m happy."
Taurasi's unmatched basketball career
Taurasi exits first and foremost as a winner, earning three straight NCAA championships with UConn before going as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft to Phoenix, where she led the Mercury to three league titles over the course of her 20-year tenure with the team.
The 42-year-old also picked up six consecutive Olympic gold medals along the way — more than any other athlete in the sport's history. Even more, she snagged all six without ever losing a single Olympic game.
In addition to her domestic efforts, Taurasi played a prominent role in the European game, winning six EuroLeague titles as well as multiple championships with teams in Russia and Turkey.
The 2009 WNBA MVP leaves the court as the league’s all-time leading scorer and three-point shooter, as well as a two-time WNBA Finals MVP, 11-time All-Star, and a two-time NCAA Most Outstanding Player, among other individual honors.
"She has a way of making people feel connected to her, but also like the best version of themselves," Taurasi’s UConn and Team USA teammate Sue Bird — who hung up her jersey in 2022 — told ESPN after the news broke.
In a statement, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert also weighed in, calling Taurasi "one of the greatest competitors to ever play the game of basketball on any stage."
Taurasi leaves iconic legacy as she retires
Having helped build the WNBA into what it is today, Taurasi created a legacy defined not just by her resume, but by leaving the game better than she found it.
"Until someone comes along and eclipses what she’s done, then yes, she is [the GOAT]," UConn boss Geno Auriemma, who coached Taurasi both in college and on Team USA's 2012 and 2016 Olympic squads, said about the basketball superstar.
As for Taurasi, she fully expects a future player to surpass her stats, as the retiring legend continues to embody a competitor’s perspective on the game she leaves behind.
"My scoring record or the six gold medals, someone’s going to come around that has the same hunger, the same addiction to basketball, and put those records in a different way, a different name," she told TIME.
"That’s what sports is all about. That’s going to be fun to watch. Hopefully not soon."
Welcome back to Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie! In today's episode, our hosts cover the WNBA playoffs, three-time MVP A'ja Wilson, the Defensive Player of the Year debate, Kelley's somewhat sudden retirement, and the NWSL playoff race.
Coming off the success of JWS's Olympic commentary show The Gold Standard, Fast Friends features two legendary athletes serving up insider insights and unique takes on the biggest stories in women's sports every week.
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With Aces star A'ja Wilson snagging her third MVP honors last weekend, the 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award has now taken centerstage. Both Wilson and Lynx standout Napheesa Collier are frontrunners, sparking heated debates.
Aces coach Hammon speaks out on A'ja Wilson
Last Thursday, Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon called out ESPN journalists who revealed their 2024 WNBA votes. Notably, Hammon went to bat for players not on her roster, like New York's Sabrina Ionescu, but particularly took voters to task for giving their DPOY nod to Collier.
"They got the MVP stuff right," she told the press. "The Defensive Player of the Year? If you have to, as a journalist or a reporter, go down a rabbit hole to find somebody else to be in the conversation, you already have the answer."
Lynx coach Reeve fires back in support of Napheesa Collier
As the previously scheduled guest on Monday’s episode of Good Game with Sarah Spain, Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve was asked if a DPOY vote for Collier “is a vote deserving of anger.”
In response, Reeve — the 2024 Coach of the Year favorite — explained that while she had not seen Hammon's press conference, "most people that I talk to think [Collier's] a unanimous decision."
"You look at the top three or four defensive teams — in A'ja's case, can you be the Defensive Player of the Year when your defense isn’t in that?" Reeve continued. "She's had an incredible year, but she can have MVP and Napheesa Collier is Defensive Player of the Year."
Who deserves to win WNBA Defensive Player of the Year?
Reigning back-to-back DPOY Wilson, whose 451 rebounds set the WNBA's new single-season rebound mark this year, has certainly made her case for a threepeat. She led the league in blocks per game, plus recorded a career-high steal rate this season.
Collier, who slightly trails Wilson in rebound and block rate this season, shines in steals, with a per-game average good for second in the league. But it's the Lynx forward's ability to defend multiple positions, plus her role in positioning Minnesota as the WNBA's second-best defense per possession — a measure that sees the Aces claim fifth in the league — that reportedly is giving her the edge with DPOY voters.
Ultimately, the choice between the two stars seems to be about individual prowess versus team contribution. It's a decision Reeve summed up as simply, “it depends on what you value when you vote.”
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson became just the second player in WNBA history to be unanimously crowned MVP on Sunday, claiming the 2024 title shortly before the league playoffs began.
In a record-breaking season league-wide, Wilson's 451 rebounds set the WNBA's new single-season rebound mark. She also inked herself in the history books as the first WNBA athlete to post 1,000+ points in a season.
Stat sheet aside, it's her commitment to her team that Aces head coach Becky Hammon says sets Wilson apart.
"We always talk about, 'Make your teammate great, and then in the process you become the greatest,'" Hammon explained.
"A'ja is...the greatest, because she's so authentically committed to that: pulling greatness out of other people. She's amazing. She's the best player in the world, and she's one of the best people in the world."
The 28-year-old now joins retired WNBA legends Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson as the only players to ever earn three career MVP awards. She previously won in 2020 and 2022.
Lynx forward Napheesa Collier finished second in 2024 MVP voting, followed by 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart, Indiana rookie Caitlin Clark, and Connecticut Sun vet Alyssa Thomas.
Top seeds hold court in first WNBA postseason games
In Sunday's postseason tip-off, all four top-seeded WNBA teams managed to avoid upsets. First, in the league-leading Liberty's 83-69 win over No. 8-seed Atlanta, New York guard Courtney Vandersloot made postseason history by notching her 365th career playoff assist to break Sue Bird's all-time playoff record.
Making postseason history of her own, Connecticut's Marina Mabrey scored a playoff-record 27 points off the bench to help the No. 3-seed Sun top the No. 6-seed Fever 93-69.
The aforementioned Collier — this season's MVP runner-up — also impressed by putting up 38 points for the No. 2-seed Lynx in Minnesota's 102-95 victory over No. 7-seed Phoenix.
In arguably Sunday's most dramatic ending, No. 5-seed Seattle went cold against reigning champs Las Vegas in the fourth quarter. After leading the No. 4-seed Aces by as many as 12 points, the Storm failed to score a single last-quarter field goal, ultimately handing Las Vegas the 78-67 win.
The second bouts in the WNBA's best-of-three first round will take the court on Tuesday and Wednesday, with if-necessary third games slated for Thursday and Friday.