It is difficult to imagine that Diana Taurasi wearing a WNBA uniform other than the Phoenix Mercury’s before her retirement on February 25 after a 20 -year WNBA record with the team.
On Thursday, however, another former WNBA Great, Sue Bird, said on his podcast “A Touch More” that the Taurasi era of Phoenix could have finished a decade earlier from their short -term plan to unite its forces on New York freedom.
The best friend of Taurasi Bird explained to his wife, the legend of football of the USWNT and co-host of Podcast Megan Rapinoe, that this happened in the “2012-13 range”. While they were teammates during a WNBA offset in Russia, Taurasi and Bird, contacted their agents for Mull leaving their respective teams Phoenix and Seattle Storm for New York.
“For those who heard us talk about our dinners in Russia, they would go on average four to five hours,” said Bird. “I repeat that we have nothing to do. And tonight, probably in the 2012-13 range, we said to ourselves:” What are we doing? Like, why don’t we play together in the WNBA? It’s stupid.
“And we say to ourselves:” Ok, what would it look like? “And we got to the point where we knew it would be New York.
Bird confirmed what we already know: they ended up staying with their teams.
“Alcohol flowed, I’m not going to lie,” said Bird about this night. “Listen, we had major projects and the next day, it was like:” Well, I do not leave Seattle. “She says to herself:” Well, I don’t leave Phoenix “, and it was the end of that.
The comrade of Taurasi Future Hall of Famer Bird was in Seattle in 2002 until his retirement in 2022 and led the team with four titles. She owned the longest long career record in the 19 -year -old WNBA because she was sidelined for two knee surgeries. Taurasi won three WNBA titles with Phoenix.
The international distinctions of Taurasi and Bird are unprecedented. They led the United States Basketball team at five gold medals from 2004 to 2021. Taurasi overshadowed the former United States basketball record with a sixth at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
As for Bird’s reference to their stay in Russia together, they led Ummc Ekaterinburg to three consecutive victories in the Russian League championship.
The start of the career of Bird and Taurasi Ensemble began as a rear comrades in Uconn from 2000 to 2002. They led the Huskies as 2002, the last undefeated team in the history of university basketball (39-0).
Bird is from New York and Taurasi in the City of Chino in South California. It is therefore logical that they have thought about the continuation of their relationship as a teammate to win a title on the largest League market in New York, One of the three original WNBA franchises in addition to the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix in 1997. New York finally won its first title last season.
After the last home game of the regular season of Taurasi against Seattle on September 19, she explained how her late friend Kobe Bryant “settled the bar” by staying with the Lakers for 20 years. She admitted that her mandate in Phoenix did not come without tests while winning three titles.
More: Vote in our survey: who should be on the Mont Rushmore of Phoenix professional basketball?
“You can probably pick by hand than many people who have played for a team for as long,” said Taurasi. “And it’s not easy to be in the same place for 20 years. It is a long relationship between the ups and downs and compromises, and I don’t like it and I don’t like it.
“But at the end of the day, this franchise through my ups and downs has always had a back by returning a better player, a better teammate, and in this sense, I was very lucky.”
“Kobe set the bar. … and it’s not easy to be in the same place for 20 years. »»
Diana Taurasi on her Uconn coach Geno Auriemma, assistant to what could be his last home game in Mercury, and her late friend Kobe Bryant with Lakers with Lakers like Motivator for her WNBA career in Phoenix. pic.twitter.com/e03233APTH
– Dana (@im_danascott) September 20, 2024
Taurasi is the top scorer of all time in the league, the eighth of Bird on this list and the n ° 1 of all time in assists. They were the faces of the WNBA, and could have changed the league landscape to the same team, but no.
Fortunately for the Mercury, Taurasi let this idea leave and led them to their last title in 2014.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bird says that she, Diana Taurasi wanted to train the top duo wnba on ny liberty
