© Owen Ziliak/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK
After 20 seasons, three championships, 11 All-Star game appearances and one MVP, WNBA legend Diana Taurasi officially called an end her career on Tuesday. Taurasi rose to prominence as a superstar for Geno Auriemma’s legendary UConn teams following Sue Bird. She was the No. 1 pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft and almost immediately lived up to the hype.
Taurasi led the Phoenix Mercury to three championships in 2007, 2009 and 2014, winning the WNBA Finals MVP in the latter two. She played her entire career for the team that drafted her and became the predominant name in women’s basketball. But at the age of 42, Taurasi says that now is the time to walk away.
“I just didn’t have it in me,” Taurasi told TIME, through which she announced her retirement. “That was pretty much when I knew it was time to walk away.”
Taurasi holds the league record for most points scored with 10,646, nearly 3,000 more than Tina Charles in second place. She also ranks fourth in assists and is the only basketball player to win six Olympic gold medals.
But her scoring had slowly declined in recent years. Her 14.9 points per game in 2024 were a career-low in seasons which she played more than 10 games. And although she was again a WNBA All-Star, Taurasi says it’s time to step away and let younger stars go after the records she set.
“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,” says Taurasi. “That’s what sports is all about. That’s going to be fun to watch. Hopefully not soon.”
So what comes for a player who is still in love with the game and still one of the league’s most popular athletes? Taurasi says she’s still figuring that part out.
“That’s the question that I still don’t have an answer for,” Taurasi told TIME. “I really enjoy taking my kids to school, being home when they’re home, not leaving for a week at a time.”
But while she’s fervent that there will be no comeback, Taurasi knows life without basketball will be difficult.
“I’m going to miss the competition,” she said. “I’m going to miss trying to get better every single offseason. I’m going to miss the bus rides, shootarounds. I’m going to miss the inside jokes. I’m going to miss the locker room, the things that come with being on a basketball team. All those things, I’ll deeply miss.”