Diana Taurasi's Friends Call Her 'Sick in the Head' as She Returns for 20th Season

Stephen Douglas | May 3, 2024

Aug 3, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi (3) celebrates her 10,000 / Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Diana Taurasi may never retire. Many expect her to retire after she plays in her sixth Olympics and 20th WNBA season this summer, but who really knows. Last year, as she turned 41, she averaged 16 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 rebounds, which are all numbers very close to her career averages. If she's slowing down, you haven't been able to see it in the box score.

It takes incredible gifts and hard work to maintain such a high level of play for such a prolonged period of time, but it also takes a certain mentality. The kind of mentality that earns you a legitimate comparison to Kobe Byrant. And most of all, in a way that makes loved ones tell you to retire while calling you a "psycho" and "sick in the head." According to CT Insider, those are the kinds of text messages Taurasi's been getting as she prepares for season 20.

Her response? "I am."

It's also the kind of thing you say about someone who is playing in her sixth Olympics. If Taurasi makes the team this summer, she'll break the record for most Olympic appearances by a basketball player. Between 1896 and 2022, only 211 people have made six or more Olympic appearances.

For a true psycho, that's just another milestone. Last August, Taurasi became the first player in WNBA history to eclipse the 10,000 career points mark. That puts her about 2,500 points ahead of second place, held by Hall of Famer Tina Thompson. It could be some time until any other woman matches that mark, let alone catches Taurasi after she adds another season's worth of points to her total.

So go ahead and keep telling her to retire. See how much farther that gets her.