Phoenix Mercury legend Diana Taurasi plans to play a 20th WNBA season in 2024, she said Monday.
“I got another year of my contract, and I’m definitely going to fulfill that,” Taurasi told reporters in her season-ending exit interview.
Taurasi, 41, became the first WNBA player to reach 10,000 career points last month. The guard has spent her entire WNBA career with Phoenix and won three championships there (2007, 2009, 2014).
Taurasi was limited to 26 games (all starts) in 2023 due to injuries. She averaged 16.0 points, 4.6 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game.
The Mercury had a rocky year on their way to finishing a league-worst 9-31. The team fired coach Vanessa Nygaard in June and named Nikki Blue the interim head coach the rest of the campaign.
Brittney Griner returned to the league after being detained in Russia for 10 months on a drug-related charge. Griner was harassed when the team was walking through the Dallas-Fort Worth airport during a road trip in June.
She ultimately missed nine games due to a hip injury, health and safety protocol and to address mental health issues, finishing the season averaging 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds in 31 games.
An unrestricted free agent, Griner — who turns 33 in October, said she wants to stay in Phoenix, where she has spent her entire 10-season career.
“Phoenix is home,” Griner told reporters Monday. “Me and my wife literally just got a place (here). This is it.”
Skylar Diggins-Smith, meanwhile, spent the season on maternity leave and publicly called out the way the Mercury had treated her during that time, claiming she wasn’t allowed to use the practice facility or “any resources” from the franchise.
Taurasi, when asked Monday if she would be open to Diggins-Smith returning to the Mercury in 2024, replied, “Next question.”
In 529 career games across 19 WNBA seasons, Taurasi has averaged 19.1 points, 4.3 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game. She’s maintained a 42.6 percent shooting rate from the floor and shot 36.2 percent from 3-point range. She skipped the 2015 season while playing in Russia.
–Field Level Media
