‘If This Is It’: Thursday may be Diana Taurasi’s final home game

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Thursday night is the Phoenix Mercury’s last home game of the regular season, and it could be legend Diana Taurasi’s last regular season game in the WNBA.

The starters wore Taurai’s No. 3 jersey during team introductions before their game against the Seattle Storm.

Hours before tipoff, the franchise posted on social media a farewell video, “if this is it.”

If this was her last game, Taurasi didn’t act like it.

Despite a deafening roar during player introductions, Taurasi treated Thursday night’s game against Seattle like any other, slapping hands with her teammates before trotting onto the floor.

Taurasi has been coy about retirement, remaining noncommittal while hinting it might be right around the corner.

The 11-time All-Star remains a key player for the Mercury, averaging 15.1 points, 4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists on the year.

The Mercury currently sits in 7th place in the WNBA standings and will place the Minnesota Lynx in the playoffs in a best-of-three series.

The WNBA format has the first two playoff games at the higher seed, so unless Phoenix wins at least one of the games, the Mercury won’t play again at home.

Whenever Taurasi does hang up her basketball shoes, her place in women’s basketball history will already be secured.

Taurasi won three straight national championships at UConn and kept on winning after the Mercury selected her with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2004 WNBA draft. She earned WNBA Rookie of the Year honors and won the first of three WNBA titles in 2007.

The 42-year-old is one of four players to win multiple WNBA Finals MVPs (2009, 2014) and was the league MVP for the 2009 season.

She won six Euroleague championships while playing year-round most of her career and claimed her sixth Olympic gold medal at this summer’s Paris Games.

She’s the WNBA’s career scoring leader — about 3,000 more than Tina Charles in second — top playoff scorer and has made the most 3-pointers in league history.

Taurasi also made the all-WNBA first team 10 times.

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