How many career points does Diana Taurasi have?

WNBA superstar Diana Taurasi is putting even more distance between herself and her closest pursuers as the league’s all-time scoring leader. After playing 521 games and 16,080 minutes over 19 seasons, she is at 9,982 points, just 18 shy of the 10K plateau.

To give context to this staggering achievement, Tina Thompson played 16,089 minutes in 496 games but hasn’t even reached 8K points yet. She is second on the list with 7,488 but can’t improve on that mark anymore as she retired in 2013.

Tina Charles (4th), DeWanna Bonner (8th) and Candace Parker (9th) are the currently active players in pursuit of Diana Taurasi. Charles has 7,115 points while Bonner and Parker are a long way off from breaching 7K points.

Diana Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury is taking on the Atlanta Dream where she could surpass 10K points. With 2:45 minutes left in the second quarter, the 2009 MVP already has 11 markers to her credit.

The three-time WNBA champ is barely showing signs of slowing down, either. She is averaging 16.1 points on 41.3% shooting, including 33.6% from deep.

For her career, she has never averaged less than 14.0 PPG except for the 2019 season when she just played six games due to an injury. The most she averaged in a season was 25.3 PPG in 2006. She has a career of 19.2 PPG, hitting 42.7% of his shots, including 36.2% from behind the arc.

---

Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury could miss the 2023 WNBA playoffs

Despite Diana Taurasi’s ageless performance and the return of Brittney Griner, the Phoenix Mercury is struggling. They are only 6-19 heading into their game against the Atlanta Dream, just half a game ahead of the 6-20 Seattle Storm for last place in the Western Conference.

Griner leads the team in scoring with 18.2 PPG while Taurasi is second with 16.1 PPG. Sophie Cunningham rounds up the team’s best scoring options with 10.5 PPG.

Defense and turnovers, though, have been costly for the Mercury this season. Although they have a nearly unstoppable duo in Brittney Griner and Taurasi, they’ve struggled to stop opponents and in taking care of the ball.

Phoenix has lost their last four games and is looking to end that streak tonight as Taurasi will likely breach the 10,000-point scoring mark.

---