SEATTLE– When Diana Taurasi was selected to play for her first senior women’s national team in 2004, U.S Olympic coach Dawn Staley was just finishing her international playing career, winning three gold medals and carrying the American flag in the same 2004 summer games in Athens.
The former Connecticut star has since become one of the most decorated player in the history of women’s basketball, winning four Olympic gold medals, three WNBA championships with the Phoenix Suns and with six Euro League championships with UMMC Ekaterinburg of Russia. She was selected to nine All-WNBA teams, won five scoring titles in the WNBA and became the all-time leading scorer in the WNBA with 7,494 points.
She will be 36 in June and ready to enter the next chapter of her life after she and her partner Penny Taylor, a former WNBA player from Australia who works in Player Development for the Mercury, welcomed a son March 1 of this year. The baby’s name is Leo Michael Taurasi-Taylor.
Taurasi admits she is not getting much sleep these days. “It’s gives me so much more admiration for what my parents did when you take care of little child who depends on you for everything,’’ she said. “I’m lucky to have such a great person like Penny. She’s been great.’’
Taurasi played briefly for Ekaterinburg, but returned to the states in December. She will start her 14th season in the WNBA this May and is here working out with the U.S. national team that will play in the World Championships this September in the Gran Canaries before likely finishing her international career in the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo.
Taurasi was the best player in the world when the U.S. women won a gold medal in the 2016 Rio games with a perfectly constructed team coached by Geno Auriemma that drew comparisons to the great 1996 gold medal team with Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Teresa Edwards and Staley. ‘We were a machine,’’ Taurasi said.
Taurasi went through a period of indecision after Rio before deciding to play for the U.S. team again. “I didn’t want to come back and just be another player if it meant holding a younger player back,’’ she said.
Taurasi will never be just another player.
Taurasi still has the passion and drive to play at the highest level. She has also made sure she is in shape, becoming a vegan two and a half years ago so she can maintain her playing weight. “As you get older, the key is taking care of your body. When you are young, you can be reckless in the way you spend your time, what you eat and drink. I decided to make sure I was ready to play. I’m 35, a lot of things can happen in a year, two years.’’
Despite her age, she and 37-year old point guard Sue Bird are still two of the most important keys to success on this U.S. team because of their leadership and experience.
Taurasi, who eased her way to 14 points here Thursday night as the United States blew by a bigger China team, 83-46, at Key Arena, still makes the game look easy and Bird, who had 5 assists and no turnovers in 13 minutes, is a mistake free player who sat to allow Staley to evaluate potential backups at her position.
The U.S., which got 16 points from 6-6 Sylva Fowles and 14 from 6-4 future international star Breanna Stewart, ripped this game open when it went on a 25-0 run at the end of the second and the start of the third to take a 50-25 lead.
The Americans have 10 players returning from Rio and should be the favorites in the World Championships with a street-smart coach like Staley and a the best core group of talent with Taurasi, Bird, 6-8 Brittany Griner, Fowles, Stewart, 6-5 Elena Delle Donne, guards Angel McCoughtry and Maya Moore.
But nothing lasts forever.
With Taurasi, Bird retiring after 2020 and Tina Charles, Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles getting older, the USA Basketball will have to find a way to transition to a younger group as they prepare for the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The rest of the world is catching up. France, Canada and Australia are all closing the gap.
“The way we played internationally is a not the way they play now,’’ Staley said. “The game is a little quicker and the opportunities to score are different. You need to thread the needle every time down, Other teams are so much better than they were 20 years ago. The game has grown with the WNBA and the exposure of the women’s game. I still think we have the best players, coaches, the best opportunities to give people what they need to get better. The gap is getting closer. We have less prep time. Our opponents keep their teams together all the time.’’
