WNBA analyst Predicts Diana Taurasi to follow in Charles Barkley's footsteps after retirement

Heading into the 2025 season, WNBA fans will have to get used to not seeing Diana Taurasi in a Phoenix Mercury uniform as she transitions into life after basketball, perhaps even following Charles Barkley's path to television.

Taurasi has retired after spending 20 years in the league, all with one franchise. However, after years of compiling untouchable stats, titles and honors, she is ready to move on.

According to WNBA analyst Greg Moore, Taurasi could be headed to television and become the next Charles Barkley or running the Phoenix Mercury. Moore touched on the subject Thursday in an Arizona Republic article:

"As a guy who’s been around her covering the team since 2017, I’ve got some ideas. None of them involve begging her to come back for one more year. ... She could easily step into a TV analyst role. DT can be thoughtful and reflective. She can also be brash, politically incorrect and funny. She’s like Charles Barkley with a slicked-back bun."

Moore reflected on a story Taurasi told about her favorite technical foul when she was ejected from a game after an official called a foul after she tripped over her feet and fell:

"When she’s on a podcast sipping merlot with her pals Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe, stories like that come with crude jokes that would make a frat boy blush."

Whichever route Taurasi takes, Moore anticipates it will take place in Phoenix as Taurasi told him that Arizona is her home. He wrote this is where her heart is:

"DT, the cranky, hilarious broadcaster, telling the whippersnappers how she had to run fast breaks uphill both ways in two feet of snow. DT, the shrewd league executive, drafting players on gut instinct and trading malcontents on her way to a title or three. But no matter what DT does next, I anticipate she’ll do it in Phoenix."

WNBA could benefit from Taurasi building the Mercury from a front office position or becoming a broadcaster

There's no doubt that Taurasi is one of the most beloved and recognizable faces of the sport with many considering her the greatest of all time. For that reason alone, the WNBA could benefit from Taurasi running a franchise or being in front of the camera talking about the game.

Taurasi would be a natural for television, and she already has experience commentating and calling games. In 2022 and 2023, Taurasi and fellow UConn legend Sue Bird hosted "The Bird & Taurasi Show" on ESPN covering the NCAA women’s Final Four as well as a Christmas Day game between the Milwaukee Bucks and New York Knicks.

Taurasi told Greg Moore in the Arizona Republic article that she can see herself sticking around the league with the growing attention and popularity of the WNBA whether that's broadcasting or being in a front office position.

“The WNBA, more specifically, being here in Phoenix, is something that, if it’s possible, I would love to be involved in some way, somehow,” Taurasi said. “I think the game is going in such a great direction and there’s such momentum and such energy. ... It’s the one thing I know better than anything, and that’s basketball.

"Hopefully, I can use some of that expertise in a way to help in any way, especially here.”

Either way, Taurasi will be around the WNBA and the Mercury for at least one day in 2025 as Phoenix plans to retire her No. 3 jersey and induct her into the team's Ring of Honor.