Diana Taurasi made it official on Tuesday.
The WNBA legend has formally introduced her retirement from the WNBA and professional basketball, ending top-of-the-line and most embellished careers within the historical past of the game. Not simply within the ladies’s sport, however basketball normally.
The 42-year-old Taurasi spent practically 20 years within the WNBA, all of them as a member of the Phoenix Mercury.
Taurasi made the retirement announcement in an exclusive with Time Journal.
She stated New 12 months’s Day was when she began to come back to the conclusion that it was in all probability time to name it a profession as a result of she “simply did not have it” in her to undergo one other season. She stated as quickly as she had that thought, she knew that it was time to stroll away.
Taurasi additionally stated she feels “full” mentally and bodily, however can also be glad.
She has each motive to really feel each feelings.
Enjoying knowledgeable sports activities into your 40s is all the time going to be a bodily and psychological grind — particularly when taking part in at her excessive degree.
Taurasi’s checklist of accomplishments is unmatched within the WNBA.
Together with being the league’s all-time main scorer, she additionally led the Mercury to 3 championships (2007, 2009 and 2014) and was a two-time WNBA Finals MVP. She was additionally the league MVP throughout the 2009 season.
She additionally received six Olympic gold medals and was a three-time NCAA champion at Connecticut earlier than being the No. 1 total choose within the 2004 WNBA Draft.
In whole, from the faculty domination, to the Olympic success, to the 20 years of consistency on the highest professional degree, it’s merely a legendary profession. The phrase legend will get used a bit of too loosely in sports activities and will solely be reserved for the cream of the crop and the very best of the very best.
Taurasi’s profession places her in that stratosphere.
