THE 2023 WNBA season was memorable for women basketball Super star Diana Taurasi take new career steps.
While she did not win a fourth WNBA championship title with the Phoenix Mercurythe franchise she has played for since they drafted her with the first overall pick in the 2004 WNBA DraftTaurasi also had something else in mind: the 10,000 career points.
Becoming the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer in 2017, the Mercury guard crossed the 9,000 points in 2021, less than a month before winning gold at Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021.
Taurasi started the 2023 season with 9,693 points, just 307 points shy of 10,000, and has quickly made his mark.
Taurasi made history on August 3, 2023 when she became the first WNBA player to score 10,000 career points, when she scored 42 points against the Atlanta Dream to reach that milestone. She finished the 2023 regular season with a total of 10,108 points, while the Mercury missed the playoffs for the first time in 11 years.
Taurasi, a five-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA, is already considered one of the best to ever play basketball. As part of the celebration of the WNBA’s 25th season, fans voted her GOAT (greatest of all time).
This award is a testament not only to the role the American has played over the years in winning multiple WNBA and Olympic titles, but also to her individual talent. In addition to the points record, Taurasi is also the career league leader in field goals and three-pointers.
