Sports360AZVideo by Eliav Gabay
Article by Jeff Metcalfe
There is an innocent wisdom that comes with youth as Diana Taurasi discovered when her 7-year-old son Leo wondered if retirement is something to be sad about.
“That was the longest 4-hour plane ride to New York thinking about if it’s sad,” Taurasi said Wednesday in her official Phoenix Mercury retirement press conference. “I don’t like to outwardly show my sadness, but I am sad.”
“It’s a game I’ve played since I was 7. It’s the only thing I always loved to do, play the game of basketball. It’s more emotional for my family and friends, who were always behind me. I think they enjoyed that journey just as much as I did. I am sad that I’ll be watching from afar.”
The sadness, though, will be temporary.
Taurasi at 42 is well-positioned for the second half of her life with financial and family stability and marketability as arguably the greatest player in the WNBA’s first three decades to capitalize on the surging popularity of women’s basketball.
While she’s never expressed an interest in coaching, the charismatic Taurasi clearly will have opportunities in broadcasting and could join other current and former athletes and celebrities in women’s sports ownership. She competed in a team triathlon in December and continues to work out “like I’m getting ready for the season.”
“The WNBA, and more specifically being here in Phoenix because of Mat (Ishbia), I would love to be involved in some way,” Taurasi said. “The game is going in such a great direction, such energy and momentum. The one thing I know probably better than anything is basketball so hopefully I can use some of that expertise in a way to help in any way.”
Ishbia is the owner of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, teams he treats with equal love and support. The Mercury’s new $100-million practice facility includes two courts named for Taurasi, the WNBA career scoring leader who played her entire 20-year career in Phoenix.
Taurasi will be the sixth player inducted into the Mercury Ring of Honor with that ceremony coming in 2026. Her wife and mother of their two children, Penny Taylor, is already in the Ring of Honor.
Taylor and Ring of Honor member Bridget Pettis were at Wednesday’s press conference. Others in the Ring of Honor are Jennifer Gillom, Cheryl Miller and Michele Timms.
Taurasi is a lock to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial, Women’s Basketball, U.S. Olympic & Paralympic and Arizona Sports Halls of Fame, probably as soon as she is eligible for each.
She won her sixth Olympic gold medal, the most ever in her sport, last summer in Paris. Her first Olympic gold came in 2004 when she was a Mercury rookie.
Taurasi was instrumental in the Mercury winning WNBA titles in 2007, 2009 and 2014 and coming close more recently in 2018 and 2021. She was WNBA Most Valuable Player in 2009 and two-time WNBA Finals MVP.
“I just wanted to win. I didn’t do it for a little bit of fame and money. I did it literally to win and have the respect of other people around me. You have to have really good people around you and at the same time you also have to give that back. I always considered being here in Phoenix a two-way street. For as much as they did for me, I wanted to pay that back.”
Taurasi and Taylor are planning to continue living in Arizona. They also have a home in California, where Taurasi grew up, and spend time in Australia, where Taylor is from.
“This is such a great place to live,” Taurasi said. “Our kids go to school here. There’s just a real authenticity about this city and the people who live here. There’s this unconditional love they have for their city. It comes out at Mercury games, Suns, Dbacks, Cardinals. There’s this pride being from the Valley that is close to my heart because the last 20 years I’ve grown up here.”
So any short-term sadness about retiring will be swept away soon enough by Taurasi’s innate gladness and the ability to channel her competitiveness into new endeavors like her retired athlete friends Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe are doing with their A Touch More podcast.
“I’m sure we’ll be drinking a lot of wine in the next few weeks,” Taurasi said. “What they’re doing is pretty amazing to use their platform to make sure these stories are being told. Sue and Megan are the best at that.”
“I am so happy where I’m at personally, now I can really reflect on what 20 years felt like and the things I was lucky enough to be a part of,” Taurasi said.
