Diana Taurasi touched a lot of lives on the court during her 20-year tenure with the Phoenix Mercury, and also inspired plenty of rivalries. After announcing her retirement from the game last week, Taurasi has been at the receiving end of plenty of tributes and laurels. With the impressive numbers that she has put up on the scoreboard and the numerous titles she has received, many would easily call Taurasi the GOAT in terms of WNBA history.
Maya Moore, who has played in the WNBA with Taurasi also dropped her tribute to the legend upon her retirement. Moore, now retired from basketball, was entwined in a crazy rivalry with Taurasi, as she played for the Minnesota Lynx. However, she and Taurasi were not always rivals, as they both played together for the UConn Huskies during their college basketball days.
“A rare moment where Dee got me out of my game face 🤣 Grateful to have shared the journey with you, Dee!🫶🏽 May you have even more life in this next chapter 🙏🏽” Maya Moore captioned her Instagram post, showing she and Taurasi sharing a laugh on the court during a game.
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Diana Taurasi joined the Phoenix Mercury after being selected as the first overall pick in the very first round of the 2004 WNBA Draft. She was part of the team Mercury from 2004 to 2024. Before that, Taurasi played for the UConn Huskies from 2000 to 2004.
Diana Taurasi’s ‘Dirty Diana’ Nickname Discussed By Fans Online
Meanwhile, not all memories of Diana Taurasi are rosy and happy. Upon the news of her retirement, WNBA fans discussed her nickname ‘Dirty Diana’ on Reddit. Taurasi earned the nickname ‘Dirty Diana’ for her rough style of play on the court and her fouls against numerous players like Marina Mabrey.
While the nickname has never affected Diana Taurasi’s performance on the court, certain fans felt that the tag should definitely be removed. Some fans went on to remark that while she did play rough and aggressive, she did not do anything ‘dirty’ enough to earn the nickname.
However, not all fans felt this way. Still other fans explained that Diana Taurasi’s style of play on the court did everything to deserve the nickname, and while she was called ‘Dirty Diana’ that was not necessarily a bad thing.
Whatever the case may be, Diana Taurasi or ‘Dirty Diana’ still goes down as a great WNBA legend in basketball history. In her career, she won the WNBA championship thrice, while making it to the WNBA All-Star squad a whopping 11 times.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
