Mercury re-sign Taurasi
Top guard re-signs for 2 more seasons
The WNBA career scoring leader agreed to a twoyear deal with the Phoenix Mercury, the team the guard has played for since being drafted in 2004. Monday was the first day of free-agent signings.
WNBA career scoring leader Diana Taurasi re-signed with the Phoenix Mercury on Monday, the first day allowed for free agent signings.
Taurasi, 38, agreed to a two-year deal that could take her to the end of what will be a Hall of Fame career. Contract details are not yet available, but it will carry Taurasi at least into the 2022 season when she turns 40 and give her a chance to reach 10,000 career points.
“WNBA players are more empowered and in control of their careers than ever before, and it is an incredibly important statement that Diana Taurasi has chosen to re-sign with the Mercury once again,” Mercury general manager Jim Pitman said in a statement. “Diana has given her entire career to our organization and community, and we don’t take for granted her unrivaled impact on basketball in the Valley. Her commitment to getting back on the court last year, and the level of play we saw from her in the (2020) Wubble, make us confident she has more AllWNBA days ahead of her.
“As I’ve said before, as long as Diana
wants to play in the WNBA, we want her in a Mercury uniform. She is the heart of our franchise, the first face on our Mount Rushmore, the best winner and competitor in the women’s game. The trajectory of our organization changed the day we drafted her 17 years ago, and we are excited she will be here into the future.”
Per a report Monday by Rachel Galligan of Winsidr, Taurasi as expected signed a super max contract for two years that pays $221,450 this year and $228,094 in 2022, the most of her domestic career. She will join teammates Skylar Diggins-Smith and Brittney Griner at the super max level. All three are candidates to play for the U.S. at the Tokyo Olympics.
In 2020, Taurasi and Diggins-Smith, playing together on the Mercury for the first time, made All-WNBA second team on a 13-9 team that reached the WNBA playoffs second round. Taurasi had 12 first-team votes and was sixth in total points, just missing making the first team.
For Taurasi, the All-WNBA selection was the record 14th of her 16-year career. She was fifth in WNBA scoring (18.7 ppg) and eighth in assists (4.5) in a bounce-back season from 2019 when back and hamstring injuries limited her to playing in six games.
Combining 2019 with the COVIDshortened 2020 season, Taurasi has played in 25 regular season games over the last two years, scoring 382 points compared to 682 in 2018 alone when she was All-WNBA first team for a 10th time.
The 6-0 guard now is at 8,931 career points and needs more than 500 in each of the next two seasons to reach 10,000. Tina Thompson, whom Taurasi passed in scoring in 2017, is second in WNBA career points with 7,488.
Taurasi also is first in WNBA career field goals (2,821), 3-pointers (1,164) and free throws (2,125) and fourth in career assists (1,953).
The No. 1 overall draft pick in 2004, Taurasi has played all but one WNBA season since, sitting out in 2015 to play solely in Russia, where she earned a seven-figure salary for multiple seasons. She led the Mercury to WNBA titles in 2007, 2009 and 2014 and was 2009 WNBA Most Valuable Player and WNBA Finals MVP in 2009 and ‘14.
Taurasi played on U.S. gold medalwining teams at the 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics and on teams that won six EuroLeague titles. In college at Connecticut, she was a three-time national champion and Naismith Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004.