What happened to Diana Taurasi? Latest update on Mercury guard's availability vs Fever (July 11) 

WNBA legend Diana Taurasi has sounded the alarms for the Phoenix Mercury with her latest injury scare. The veteran guard has missed three of her last four matches with the Arizonians and that number will increase this Friday when she misses the second Indiana Fever duel of the season.

Taurasi missed a game against the Connecticut Sun on July 1 due to back soreness. She returned two days later, playing 30 minutes against the Dallas Wings. After that, she missed the July 7 game against the LA Sparks and the next duel against the Wings on Wednesday.

She has been ruled out for Friday's game against Caitlin Clark and the Fever, which is concering given that she's set to represent Team USA in the upcoming Olympic Games.

Taurasi is dealing with a left lower leg injury. This season marks her 20th in the WNBA, where averaging 16.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. Taurasi is shooting 39.7% from the field. 35.4% from beyond the arc and 87.5% from the free throw line in 19 games this season.

In her first matchup against Caitlin Clark, she scored 19 points, grabbed three rebounds and dished three assists, shooting 5-for-14 from the field. The Mercury appears to be getting better in recent games, winning three of their last four matches.

Diana Taurasi's absence could be costly against the Fever, who previously beat them and are coming off a 89-84 loss to the Washington Mystics at home.

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Sue Bird defends Diana Taurasi's comments about Caitlin Clark

Last week, WNBA legend Sue Bird, a close friend of Diana Taurasi, spoke about the veteran's comments about Caitlin Clark when the young star was still in college. At the time, Taurasi warned Clark about her new rivals in the pros, but Bird came out on her defense, saying that social media made them look worse than they were.

"The way I would frame it, I think where we're sitting now is, it's taken a life of its own that I would credit to internet trolls. I feel like Twitter has taken -obviously, I'm assuming we're talking about Diana [Taurasi] saying that rookies are gonna need to adjust."

"Somehow that got twisted and turned around and now it's taken on a life of its own. And there’s this narrative that WNBA players are hating on [Caitlin Clark] and I'm just like, that’s not the case. I just think things have gotten really twisted up," Bird explained.

Diana Taurasi paid her respect to Clark after their first matchup, burying the hatchet (if there ever was one) and starting over with Clark.