Chicago is a special place for Mercury guard Diana Taurasi.
Yes, it’s a city that signifies 18 seasons worth of matchups beginning in 2006, including two WNBA Finals meetings. However, before that, it was merely a city some 2,000 miles away that, thanks to local cable, had her full attention.
“I grew up watching [Michael Jordan] every day,” Taurasi said on Sunday. “I have these vivid memories, being in L.A., 4 p.m. we had four channels and one was WGN. In the summer, I would watch the Cubs. That was just what you did.”
Taurasi had no way of knowing that one day she’d help announce professional basketball in Chicago would include the WNBA.
“I was here with Lisa Leslie and Tamika Johnson and we cut the ribbon,” Taurasi said. “It was the beginning of the Chicago Sky.”
Taurasi hasn’t said she’s retiring, but the Mercury have begun sounding the alarm.
“If this is it,” reads their social media campaign promoting the team’s last home game on Sept. 19, “Thank you for the fire, the laughs, for loving the game and never cheating it.”
Alright, Taurasi, we’ll all play along. This isn’t officially it, but if it is the game will never be the same.
In 20 WNBA seasons, Taurasi has won three WNBA titles, been named league MVP (2009) and , earned 11 All-Star nods, been named to the All-WNBA first or second team 14 times and won six Olympic gold medals — the most Olympic titles in U.S. basketball history. She is the WNBA’s All-Time leader in points scored (10,599), outscoring Tina Charles, who is second, by nearly 3,000 points.
All of those accolades alone are enough to characterize Taurasi as the WNBA’s greatest of all time. However, coaches, teammates and even adversaries say her intangibles are what truly define her greatness.
“It’s such a cliche, but the best players in the world are in love with the work,” Mercury GM Nick U’Ren said. “I have not seen one other human being that is addicted or in love with the work like Diana.”
This statement carries even more weight when considering U’Ren spent nine years in basketball operations with the Warriors, working with another one of the game’s greatest, four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry.
Taurasi’s work ethic has been best exemplified by her ability to return to the WNBA after three consecutive seasons from 2019-2021 dealing with injury. She played 41 total games of a possible 88 over those three seasons.
In the three seasons since, she’s appeared in 90 regular-season games, averaging 15.8 points, four assists, and 3.7 rebounds for the Mercury. Her career averages are 18.9 points, 4.2 assists and 3.9 total rebounds.
“If this is it,” Taurasi’s accolades will speak volumes, but there’s another aspect of her game that contests.
Since she was drafted in 2004, Taurasi’s trash-talking has been one of her most differentiating qualities.
“Playing against DT was a pain in the [expletive] ass,” said teammate Natasha Cloud, who spent eight seasons with the Mystics.
Taurasi has a 22-11 All-Time record against the Sky over the course of 20 regular seasons. She is 4-3 against them in the postseason, including two WNBA Finals. The Mercury swept the Sky in the 2014 Finals. In 2021, the Sky went 3-1 against the Mercury en route to their first WNBA title.
The result of which led to one of the most memorable Taurasi moments: a broken locker room door. Taurasi reportedly slammed the door so hard following the Mercury’s Game 4 loss it cracked.
Days later, the Sky brought it on stage for their championship celebration at Pritzker Pavilion.
“If this is it,” Taurasi’s legacy will be defined by her incomparable approach to the game. One that is as admirable as it is crazed.