PHOENIX — Few tackle the hardwood like Diana Taurasi.
At six Olympic Games, she wore the number 12 under the letters USA and won six gold medals. In 12 seasons abroad, she wore numbers 13 and 32 while winning six Euroleague titles during appearances with Spartak Moscow and UMMC Yekaterinburg.
And for two decades, she defined the WNBA while wearing one number — No. 3 — for one franchise, the Phoenix Mercury. On Sunday afternoon, the Mercury honored her by raising that No. 3 on its horns. And once again she took the field like no one else could – this time in an all-black suit with a bejeweled brooch – and gave a speech that encapsulated it all.
“Driving to the game today, I didn’t know if I was going to get dressed, if it was my funeral or my celebration,” Taurasi said with a chuckle. “I realized that it’s all there and it’s amazing.”
Taurasi has been an example of excellence in the WNBA for 20 years.
She became the first player in the league to surpass 10,000 points and then added 646 more before retiring. She won three WNBA titles. She was an 11-time All-Star, 2009 MVP, five-time champion, two-time Finals MVP and 10-time All-WNBA First Team. Eighteen months after retiring on February 25, 2025, Merkur officially retired his jersey number.
A legendary night for a legendary player.
After 20 seasons in the WNBA, Diane Taurasi’s No. 3 is officially in the Phoenix rafters.
🎥 @WNBA pic.twitter.com/Md0mnzbqJn
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 17, 2026
“I feel different today,” Taurasi said before the Mercury’s 88-85 loss to the Portland Fire. “Once your number goes up there, you can’t use it anymore. It’s over. So if there was still a little bit of competitiveness in me, I think it’s up there with the number today, and it feels really good to know that.”
Mercury and the city of Phoenix spent the weekend celebrating their adopted daughter’s career.
On Thursday, the street outside the Mortgage Matchup Center was named “10646 Taurasi Way” in honor of her career point total. On Friday, Taurasi participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for one of three renovated outfields in the Phoenix area. A mural with her image is painted on the wall outside the arena.
The weekend culminated with Sunday’s ceremony and Taurasi’s induction into the franchise’s Ring of Honor. He joins Mercury legends Cheryl Miller, Jennifer Gillom, Bridget Pettis, Michele Timms and Penny Taylor, who is Taurasi’s wife.
A host of dignitaries sat courtside for the game, including 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, four-time WNBA champion Sheryl Swoopes, Arizona Cardinals Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker and Taurasi’s former teammate who helped Mercui2 Taurasi0 lead Mercui204. WNBA Championship.
Team owner Mat Ishbia, who also owns the NBA’s Suns, welcomed Taurasi onto the court at halftime. Her parents, sister, wife and children were waiting for her there. Ishbia gave a short speech before passing the microphone to Pettis, Taurasi’s former teammate, who inducted her into the Ring of Honor. Then it was time for Taurasi’s speech, which she called an “appetizer” ahead of the longer celebration held after the game.
Taurasi thanked Ishbia and the organization for valuing Mercury with the same treatment and respect as the Suns. She then spoke directly to Mercury fans and Phoenix residents. She shared the story of her first conversation with former Mercury owner Jerry Colangelo and said she knew she would never leave the desert.
“This place made me who I am,” Taurasi said. “You let me grow. You let me fall. You let me get back up and gave me the space to become who I am today.”
But after the game, Taurasi really let it rip in a ceremony that lasted roughly an hour and a half, with Taurasi’s speech lasting just over 30 minutes. More than 80 percent of the sold-out crowd appears to have stayed until the end. Twenty players, coaches and executives throughout her WNBA career greeted her at center court with flowers.
Taylor, the only other player to be a part of all three Mercury titles, recited the poem, imploring everyone in attendance to listen as it spoke about a person, not a player. When it was finally Taurasi’s turn to speak, the arena was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, save for uproarious laughter and hearty cheers when she uttered one of her infamous Taurasi-isms.
During the roughly 30 minutes that Taurasi spoke, she shared details about the trials of her career and the joys of doing it with her teammates who have become family. She joked about bad coaches and good ones, talking about how NBA and WNBA championship-winning coach Paul Westhead would sometimes walk into the locker room wearing two different colored shoes before talking about Shakespeare.
At one point, a fan yelled, “I’m going to be a basketball player.”
To which Taurasi replied, “You do it, girl. There are three open basketball courts, go hit ’em.”
The common thread in all those who spoke about Taurasa, whether close friends or foes on the field, was the competitive fire that fueled her success. They spoke of her ruthlessness on the court, and of her kindness and honesty off the court.
In 30 minutes, she gave fans everywhere.
A competitor.
Comedian.
Family woman.
AND THE GOAT.
“Throughout my career, it hasn’t been about winning in this weird way,” Taurasi said. “It didn’t make me happy. Win or lose, it didn’t motivate me more or less. So, once I retiredI didn’t have that desire to be competitive. I didn’t have that desire to prove myself. I hope that I continue to treat the day in the same way, wherever I come into contact with, I pay attention to them, I give them my energy.”
