鈥淥ne more year!鈥 The chants from the 11,333-strong crowd reverberated at the Footprint Center as the buzzer sounded to mark the end of the Mercury鈥檚 2024 regular season. Considering that they spotted the visiting Storm 21 points in the first quarter alone, the fans in the arena could have left much earlier. Instead, they stayed on, bent on convincing the cornerstone of the purple and orange for the last two decades to keep plodding on. Needless to say, Diana Taurasi was noncommittal. 鈥淚f it is the last time, it felt like the first time鈥 was all she volunteered.
Certainly, Taurasi knew she didn鈥檛 have anything left to prove in and for the sport she thrived in since donning the colors of the University of Connecticut at the turn of the millennium. Three national championships, three WNBA titles, six Olympic gold medals, and six Euroleague crowns punctuated her hoops history. And that wasn鈥檛 even counting the individual honors she had been bestowed en route. The only question was whether she had already felt her heart to be full, never mind the prolonged valedictory the Mercury feted her within the week leading up to the homestand against the Storm.
Five months later, Taurasi gave a definitive answer. Not that anybody was shocked that she opted to formally put a period to her playing career the other day. At 42, she found the daily grind too taxing to be worth the opportunity cost. No doubt, she loved burning rubber; it was the intense preparation prior to doing so that finally ate at her resolve. Her advancing age, increasing susceptibility to injury, and, yes, her overcrowded mantel all signaled to her that it was time to exit stage left. 鈥淭here鈥檚 still days where I鈥檓 like: I can still do this, I can still want to play basketball,鈥 she said then. 鈥淏ut then there鈥檚 days where I can barely crawl out of bed. That鈥檚 the struggle when you鈥檙e at this point in your career; you have to do so much you have to do to get back on the court.鈥
Taurasi is embracing retirement as the WNBA鈥檚 undisputed leading scorer of all time, but she knows records are meant to be broken. For one year, at least, she got to see the significant strides the WNBA had made. A geometric progression in follower volume, charter flights, a new collective bargaining agreement on the horizon, expansion 鈥 all these, and more, made her beam with pride as she pondered on her invaluable contributions along the way. And so she looks ahead to better things, knowing full well the legacy she leaves behind.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since 大象传媒 introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
