Diana Taurasi rewrote the record books.
The Mercury star is already the WNBA’s all-time scoring leader, and now she has another huge milestone on her resume, becoming the first player in WNBA history to reach 10,000 career points.
No other WNBA player has more than 7,500 career points and Taurasi’s resume is a tough one to rival. She has three WNBA championships, one MVP award, two Finals MVP trophies, 14 All-WNBA selections, and 10 All-Star selections.
She has dominated on the international stage for Team USA, winning five Olympic gold medals, and was named to the 15th, 20th and 25th WNBA Anniversary teams.
Taurasi’s status as the league’s greatest-ever scorer is already cemented, winning five scoring titles and boasting the highest single-season scoring average (25.3 points per game in 2006).
Tonight she created history.
Unrivaled. Unmatched. Unprecedented.
Diana Taurasi becomes the first @wnba player to reach 10,000 points! pic.twitter.com/AbTf8tKt0S
— Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) August 4, 2023
Diana Taurasi creates history with 10,000 career points
Taurasi entered Thursday night’s contest against the Atlanta Dream needing 18 points to reach 10,000 career points and she didn’t need long to get there.
She had 10 points at the half and after scoring a driving layup early in the third quarter, she connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to bring up the milestone, bringing the Footprint Center to a standstill as her teammates embraced her at halfcourt.
THE SHOT 👑@DianaTaurasi forever etches her name in #WNBA History as the first player to 10K career points!#MoreThanGame pic.twitter.com/AVByekTwaV
— WNBA (@WNBA) August 4, 2023
She finished with a season-high 42 points on 12-of-21 shooting and 6-of-13 from the 3-point line, adding four rebounds and two assists, leading the Mercury to a 91-71 win.
Tonight’s performance was Taurasi’s first 40-point game since 2010.
WNBA all-time scoring list
In 2017, Taurasi passed Tina Thompson to become the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer and has been extending her lead at the top ever since.
Among the top 10, she is one of four active players, followed by Tina Charles (4), DeWanna Bonner (8), and Candace Parker (9).
| Rank | Player | Points |
| 1. | Diana Taurasi* | 10,024 |
| 2. | Tina Thompson | 7488 |
| 3. | Tamika Catchings | 7380 |
| 4. | Tina Charles* | 7115 |
| 5. | Candice Dupree | 6895 |
| 6. | Cappie Pondexter | 6811 |
| 7. | Sue Bird | 6803 |
| 8. | DeWanna Bonner* | 6680 |
| 9. | Candace Parker* | 6574 |
| 10. | Katie Smith | 6452 |
| 11. | Sylvia Fowles | 6415 |
| 12. | Lisa Leslie | 6263 |
| 13. = | Seimone Augustus | 6005 |
| 13. = | Lauren Jackson | 6005 |
| 15. | Becky Hammon | 5841 |
| 16. | Angel McCoughtry* | 5797 |
| 17. | Nneka Ogwumike* | 5691 |
| 18. | DeLisha Milton-Jones | 5571 |
| 19. | Katie Douglas | 5560 |
| 20. | Lindsay Whalen | 5523 |
*Denotes active player
Diana Taurasi career scoring average
After averaging 17.0 points per game as a rookie with the Mercury in 2003-04, Taurasi has posted at seven seasons averaging above 20 points per game in her career.
She has won the WNBA scoring title a record five times (2006, 2008–2011), with her highest scoring average coming in 2006 with 25.3 points per game — the highest ppg average in WNBA history.
| Season | Points per game | Total points |
| 2004 | 17.0 | 578 |
| 2005 | 16.0 | 527 |
| 2006 | 25.3 | 860 |
| 2007 | 19.2 | 613 |
| 2008 | 24.1 | 820 |
| 2009 | 20.4 | 631 |
| 2010 | 22.6 | 702 |
| 2011 | 21.6 | 692 |
| 2012 | 14.0 | 112 |
| 2013 | 20.3 | 651 |
| 2014 | 16.2 | 536 |
| 2016 | 17.8 | 589 |
| 2017 | 17.9 | 556 |
| 2018 | 20.7 | 682 |
| 2019 | 4.3 | 26 |
| 2020 | 18.7 | 356 |
| 2021 | 15.2 | 243 |
| 2022 | 16.7 | 519 |
| 2023 | 16.1 | 289 |
| Career | 19.2 | 10,024 |
