How Did Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor Shape the Phoenix Mercury?
Twenty seasons, three titles and the WNBA scoring record. Here is how Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor built the modern Phoenix Mercury.
Quick Answer
Diana Taurasi spent all 20 of her WNBA seasons with the Phoenix Mercury, retired in February 2025 as the league's all time leading scorer, and won three championships with the franchise in 2007, 2009 and 2014.
Penny Taylor spent the bulk of a 19 year professional career in Phoenix, played on all three of those title teams, and was the offensive counterweight that made the Mercury's fast attack work against elite defences.
Together they turned a franchise that had never won anything into the defining offensive team of its era, and their partnership continued off the court after both retired.
Two Very Different Paths to the Same Roster
Taurasi arrived in Phoenix as the first overall pick of the 2004 WNBA draft, straight out of a University of Connecticut run that produced three consecutive national titles and two national player of the year awards.
Taylor arrived by a longer route. She came out of the Australian Institute of Sport, won a WNBL title with that program, and played professionally in China, Italy, Turkey and Russia across a career that overlapped constantly with the Australian national team.
That difference mattered on the floor. Taurasi grew up in a system built on relentless pressure and shot making. Taylor grew up in the European club game, which prized spacing, passing angles and the willingness to give up a good shot for a better one.
The Offence They Built
The Mercury teams of the late 2000s were the fastest thing in the league, and they were fast on purpose. Head coach Paul Westhead installed a run first system in 2006 that treated the shot clock as a suggestion rather than a limit.
Most teams could not survive at that tempo, because scoring quickly also means giving the ball back quickly. Phoenix could, because it had two players who scored efficiently in transition and did not need a set play to create a good look.
- Taurasi: a five time scoring champion with unlimited range and a habit of taking the hardest shot on the floor because she trusted it more than a safer one.
- Taylor: a forward who could handle, post, pass out of the short roll and shoot, which made her impossible to guard with one defensive type.
- The effect: defences that loaded up on one of them opened a clean path for the other.
The 2007 championship was the payoff. Phoenix beat Detroit in a five game final and gave the franchise its first title in its ninth season.
The Numbers Behind the Reputation
| Marker | Diana Taurasi | Penny Taylor |
|---|---|---|
| WNBA seasons | 20, all with Phoenix | Bulk of a 19 year pro career in Phoenix |
| WNBA titles | Three (2007, 2009, 2014) | Three, on the same teams |
| League MVP | One | None, two time All Star selection era peer |
| Finals MVP | Two | Key contributor in all three runs |
| Olympic golds | Six with the United States | Two Olympic medals with Australia |
| Career milestone | First WNBA player to 10,000 points | World Championship gold and tournament MVP for the Opals |
Taurasi is the WNBA's all time leader in points, three pointers, field goals and free throws, and holds 10 All WNBA first team selections plus 11 All Star nods.
Taylor's resume reads differently because her prime years were split between the WNBA and the European season, which is how most international players of her generation earned a living. Her Australian record includes a World Championship gold and the tournament MVP award, taken ahead of teammate Lauren Jackson.
The 2014 Team Was the Best Version
Phoenix went 29 and 5 in 2014, then lost only one playoff game on the way to a title. That team paired the Taurasi and Taylor generation with Brittney Griner, and the fit was almost unfair.
Griner protected the rim, which let the guards gamble. She also drew help in the paint, which cleared the arc for the shooters. Defences had to choose between the interior and the perimeter and could not cover both.
It is the clearest example of what the pair actually did for the franchise: they created a system attractive enough that talent wanted to arrive, and stable enough that arriving talent immediately looked better.
Injuries, Absence and the Cost of Longevity
Neither career ran clean. Taylor lost most of a season to a knee injury and retired at the end of the 2016 campaign after a long run of physical setbacks that came from playing effectively year round.
Taurasi sat out the 2015 WNBA season entirely after her Russian club offered to pay her to rest, a decision that drew criticism at the time and that looks, a decade later, like an accurate early warning about pay structures in the league.
She played on until February 2025, when she retired at 42 after 20 seasons. Almost no one in a contact sport gets 20 years, and no one before her had done it for a single WNBA franchise.
What They Left Behind in Phoenix
The obvious inheritance is the banners and the records. The less obvious one is the way the Mercury market themselves, which has been built for two decades around the idea that the team plays entertaining, high scoring basketball.
There is also a coaching thread. Taylor moved into a front office and assistant coaching role with the organisation after retiring, which kept the institutional knowledge of those title teams inside the building instead of scattering it around the league.
Off the court, Taurasi and Taylor married in 2017 and have raised two children, and both have stayed visible in the sport during a period when the WNBA's audience and revenue have grown sharply.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many championships did Taurasi and Taylor win together?
Three, all with the Phoenix Mercury, in 2007, 2009 and 2014.
Is Diana Taurasi the WNBA's all time leading scorer?
Yes. She holds the career records for points, three pointers, field goals and free throws, and was the first player in league history to reach 10,000 career points.
When did Diana Taurasi retire?
In February 2025, at 42, after 20 WNBA seasons spent entirely with Phoenix.
What country did Penny Taylor play for?
Australia. She won two Olympic medals with the Opals and a World Championship gold, and was named MVP of that World Championship.
Did Penny Taylor stay with the Mercury after retiring?
Yes. She moved into a basketball operations and coaching role with the organisation rather than leaving the sport.
Bottom Line
Taurasi supplied the scoring record and the competitive edge. Taylor supplied the passing, spacing and versatility that made the scoring sustainable against good defences.
The Mercury's three championships sit at the intersection of those two skill sets, and the franchise's identity as an offence first team is still the direct product of what the pair built in Phoenix between 2004 and 2016.