Diana Taurasi still has ‘a lot to do’ ahead of 18th WNBA season with Phoenix Mercury

For Diana Taurasi, her reason for returning for an 18th WNBA season at age 39 is simple:

“I still feel I have a little bit left – and a lot to do.”

The process, admittedly, is way more complicated.

“Now there’s a laundry list of things that I just have to do to be primed to play on game night,” explained the 10-time All-Star, who turns 40 this June but told media last week that she’s not ready for couch life just yet.

“I’m still in the mindset of trying to get better, trying to improve as an individual, trying to come back to training camp and be better, looking at the season as another challenge,” she said.

“I’m very present with where I’m at as far as my basketball career. I’m not ignorant about how old I am and the things that I’ve done, but I’m still very present in the things that I’m doing right now.”

Taurasi, who has won three WNBA titles with Phoenix and is the league’s all-time leading scorer with 9,174 points, is on the second year of a two-year super-max contract that she signed with the Mercury in 2020. Her incentive is undoubtedly another WNBA title, especially after the Mercury fell 3-1 in last year’s finals to the Chicago Sky. Taurasi reportedly took out her frustrations on the visiting locker-room door, slamming the door multiple times and cracking it through the middle.

“Obviously, Diana is a champion of champions, but we have players who just got a taste, and they want more, and they’re hungry,” said first-year head coach Vanessa Nygaard. “So I feel like being in the championship last year is not a negative. It’s a very positive thing for us in terms of motivation.”

But ahead of the 2022 WNBA season, Taurasi said she’s been honest with herself about areas that need improvement while also embracing the