Chicago is a special place for Mercury guard Diana Taurasi.
“I grew up watching [Michael Jordan] every day,” Taurasi said 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 launch another pro basketball team in Chicago.
“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.”
All right, Taurasi, we’ll all play along. This isn’t officially it, but if it is, the game will never be the same.
In 20 seasons, Taurasi has compiled quite a résumé: three WNBA titles, a league MVP award (2009), 11 All-Star nods, 14 All-WNBA first- or second-team selections and six Olympic gold medals — the most Olympic titles in U.S. basketball history. She is the WNBA’s all-time leader in points (10,599), outscoring Tina Charles, who’s second, by nearly 3,000 points.
All of those achievements are enough to consider Taurasi the WNBA’s greatest player. But coaches, teammates and even adversaries say her intangibles are what truly define her greatness.
“It’s such a cliché, but the best players in the world are in love with the work,” Mercury general manager 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, considering U’Ren spent nine years in basketball operations with the Warriors, working with another of the game’s greatest — four-time NBA champion Steph Curry.
Taurasi’s work ethic was best exemplified by her ability to return to the WNBA after three consecutive seasons — 2019 to 2021 — dealing with injuries. She played in 41 games of a possible 88 those three seasons.
In the three seasons since, she has 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 rebounds.
“If this is it,” Taurasi’s accolades will speak volumes, but there’s another aspect of her game worth mentioning.
Since she was drafted in 2004, Taurasi’s trash-talking has been one of her most well-known 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 in 20 regular seasons. She’s 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 to capture their first WNBA title.
That Finals defeat led to one of the most memorable Taurasi moments: a broken locker-room door.
Taurasi reportedly slammed the door so hard after the Mercury’s Game 4 loss that 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 bonkers.
