Following Tom Brady and, as of right now, leading LeBron, WNBA legend Diana Taurasi retired from the game at a Jackie Robinson 42 years of age. Capital like DC, D.T. remains the G.O.A.T of the W. Not to mention, one of the most successful athletes in any association of basketball.
Decorated even more than Hollywood homes during Christmastime, Diana Taurasi remains the all-time leading scorer in WNBA history with 10,646 points. Some of those buckets came from her making more three-point shots (1,447) than anyone before her, or still to come.
In regard to assists, the guard/forward takes fourth place in the record books. The one thing Diana Taurasi didn’t pass up was the chance to win big. Three-straight college championships with UConn. A three-time WNBA champion (two time Finals MVP). A six-time Euro-League one. Six Gold medals at the Olympics (more than any man). You can forget that she didn’t play the final game in Paris. She should have. And you’ll find out why here.
Here being, ‘Taurasi’, a documentary about Diana on Amazon’s Prime Video that takes it personally after her last dance. Split into three parts (‘A Star In Storrs’, ‘Rolling In Rubles’ and ‘League Of Her Own’) for this limited series, much like Prime’s one on fellow international legend Pau Gasol (‘It’s About The Journey’), the rise of the Mercury star is too complex for just one film.
Featuring family, fellow retired G.O.A.T and college and Olympic alumni Sue Bird, and legendary UConn coach Geno Auriemma (who, word to the wise, should be played by Josh Brolin if they ever make a movie out of all this), ‘Taurasi’ is terrific. The best WNBA doc since the ‘144’. Yet it gets real personal and profound when Diana breaks it down herself.
Chopping it up with the camera crew as that iconic tight, tied back hair comes into focus, D.T. gets charming and candid. Whether she’s talking about the college days, early league reality checks, or the blown out of proportion Caitlin Clark drama. One thing that sticks out in the show, and this CBA time, is how little she was paid for how great she was.
“The [expletive] janitor in the arena made more than me,” she reveals.
“I’m the best player in the world, and I have to go to a communist country to get paid like a capitalist.”
The same country that years later would keep her future teammate Brittney Griner locked up.
You see, Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird weren’t just teammates for two years of college and every four years at the Olympics. They were also international teammates every summer in Russia. You can hear more about it on the ESPN 30 For 30 podcast documentary ‘The Spy Who Signed Me’ (a hilarious name for any fans of ‘Austin Powers’).
Taurasi may have been a Phoenix Mercury lifer, but the salary she received was meagre to say the least. In Russia, team owner Shabtai Kalmanovic spoiled his stars, until one day, he was shot and killed. The most sobering moment of the documentary truly blind sides you in more ways than one.
Yet, Taurasi remained in Russia to play out her contract like a true team player. She rebounded and also beat adversity and false drug-test charges to rise and win again with the Mercury and B.G. All before calling it a classic career that gave her the game, and the love of her life, in teammate Penny Taylor.
The ‘White Mamba’ gave her all on the floor, and still doesn’t give an f-word about those who want to dismiss D.T. in this new C.C. era. Both legend and star deserve to shine for what they’ve done for the W. One that, thanks to them, now stands for “win.”
Yet it’s going to take some time before the current number one, and the top pick that came after her, even begin to reach the greatest of all-time stature that Taurasi and the Bird that flew the college coop with her remain in.
Don’t think of them as definitive? Watch this docuseries and then get your apology forms ready. Because after ‘Taurasi’, surely ‘Bird’ will come next.
