Diana Taurasi’s retirement announcement comes at a perfect time

After the speculation offseason, WNBA Starr Diana Taurasi has officially announced her retirement. After 20 seasons, I took a picture of my shoes as one of the clear faces of women's basketball.

She made clear about her decision. This is at some point during this offseason. Time's Sean Gregory.

“I'm just full, both mentally and physically,” she said. “That's probably the best way I can explain it. I'm full and happy.”

Diana Taurasi is one of the WNBA's greatest all-time greats.

Taurashi is often called the goat (the greatest ever), and praise backs it up: three WNBA championships, three NCAA titles, six Euroleague titles, two WNBA Finals MVPs, three Euroleague MVPs , the list continues many times.

She leaves the WNBA as the highest scorer ever (he has taken Tina Charles in second place and earned over 3,000 points). She makes three-point shots more than any player in league history and has Olympic gold (6) than basketball players, men or women.

At this point, it's a resume that no other female basketball players compete.

“Daina Taurasi is one of the greatest competitors to play a basketball game on any stage,” WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement.

Taurasi told Gregory that she is aware that her numerous records will eventually break.

“My score record, or six gold medals, someone comes in the same hunger, relying on basketball, and make those records differently, different names,” she says. Ta. “That's what sports are all about. It's fun to watch. Hopefully soon.”

Why Taurashi's retirement is the perfect time

When Mercury Point Guard was drafted in 2004, women's basketball was somewhere else entirely. The WNBA was in its early stages and the future was undecided. And throughout her 20-year playing career, the popularity and success of the league faded and flowed.

She has left the sport at her popularity, and the new generation of young stars Kate Linklark It brings unprecedented levels of viewer and engagement to women's basketball. The league is in the midst of a major expansion and will be adding teams to Golden State (2025), Toronto (2026) and Portland (2026) in the upcoming season. .

A rookie class that has been discovered by stars like Clark. Angel Wreathand Cameron Brink contributed to unprecedented audiences and engagement. And over the next few years, new generation of college standouts like UConn senior Page Booker, USC sophomore Juju Watkins and Notre Dame sophomore Hannah Dalgo will only build on the current momentum of the league.

In some respects, it was bittersweet that Taurasi only experienced a year of charter flights, and had to play in front of less than full arenas for a significant portion of her career . She has to go abroad every offseason to compensate for the WNBA's limited salary and sits in the 2015 WNBA season to raise $1.5 million from the professional basketball team in Russia. I had to go. The world at that time. That same season was the worst WNBA history.

As viewers rise, the WNBA financial model will soon change. Players are expected to negotiate a new CBA and pay is expected to rise significantly.

Taurasi told Gregory he wasn't sure about the next step in retirement.

“That's a question that I don't have the answer yet,” says Taurasi. “I really enjoy taking my kids to school, staying home when I get home and not leaving for a week at a time.”

Perhaps your media career is in cards or coaching. Given her charismatic personality and her ultra-competitive nature, both seem to be viable possibilities.

Or, as many retired athletes choose, she will be completely out of the game.

But the reality is that no matter how she chooses to intersect with women's basketball moving forward, Taurashi sleeps at night knowing that the game she loves so much is in a better place than ever before You can do it.

And for now, at least for now, the women's basketball player's achievements are not comparable to her.