This past week, Diana Taurasi announced her retirement after 20 years in the WNBA. She leaves the game as the league's leading scorer, 11 time all-star, three time WNBA champion, and six time Olympic gold medalist, not to mention the three titles she won in college with the UConn Huskies.
Oh, and all around badass.
Taurasi and I are relative contemporaries. She is six months younger than I am, and she was drafted the year after I graduated undergrad. During our shared college years, she was omnipresent, individually and collectively - in addition to her championships, she was a perennial All-American, notched a few Player of the Year awards, and was the NCAA Tournament most outstanding player twice during one of UConn's most dominant runs.
My particular fanhood skews towards college in all sports, so it would have been easy for Taurasi to leave my radar once she made it into the W. But even in my frame of reference, her presence remained, whether it was her six trips to the Olympics, her deals with Nike and many other brands, or her personality that couldn't be confined to the court or the broadcast, she stayed in the limelight.
In her time in the league, she played with the WNBA's pioneers up through the heraled 2024 draft class. She's seen the sport grow by leaps and bounds, and remained one of the coldest up until she said farewell. And I'm certain we haven't heard the last of her. Enjoy retirement, DT.
Comments