Still feeling 'like I have a little bit left,' Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi doesn't plan to retire soon

PHOENIX — Diana Taurasi isn't going anywhere.

At least, not for a while.

The Phoenix Mercury guard said Wednesday that she doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon as she's set to start her 18th WNBA season next week.

«I plan on playing for a while,» Tauarsi said. «I'll let you guys know when I'm done because you're not gonna see me anymore. when I'm done playing, I'm just going to stop playing. I'm not going to ease my way out.

»I want to play and when I suck, I won't play. Trust me, I'll be in those workouts in the winter and be like, 'Hmm, that's it."

Tauarsi, who is in the final year of a two-year extension that she signed before the 2021 season, understands her basketball mortality is approaching but the 39-year-old doesn't think it's overtaken her, just yet.

«I still feel like I have a little bit left,» Taurasi said, «and a lot to do.»

Mercury first-year coach Vanessa Nygaard hopes to save the «tread» on Taurasi for game days but getting to that point will be a constant challenge for the three-time WNBA champion.

Taurasi's daily schedule will change «tremendously» this season because, she said, «it just has to.» There'll be days when she won't practice or practice as much but will still be doing something to help her body regenerate.

«I don't think there was a time where, in my first 15 years, I would have even thought of just taking a practice off because you just take it off,» she said. «And, now, you have to be little bit more strategic of the days and look at the schedule and see, well, 'What days are going to be high days? What days are gonna be low days?' There really is no day off. „It's almost harder. It was easier when I just practiced every day, just went in there and practiced. Now, there's a laundry list