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They are three of the greatest players in women’s basketball history. They have each won multiple WNBA championships and Olympic gold medals, helped grow the league and transcended WNBA records. And one of them turns 40 on Saturday.
Diana Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles and Sue Bird have redefined several statistical categories in the WNBA. But their dominance is most evident at the top of three of the biggest stats in the game: Taurasi is the WNBA’s all-time scoring leader, Fowles is the all-time rebounding leader and Bird is the all-time assists leader.
While longevity has played a part in their paths to the top — Taurasi is in her 18th WNBA season, Fowles in her 15th and Bird her 19th — sustained excellence has set them apart. Bird, a 5-foot-9 guard for the Seattle Storm, turns 42 in October, and Fowles, a 6-6 Minnesota Lynx center, turns 37 that same month.
As Taurasi, a 6-0 guard for the Phoenix Mercury, turns 40, we take a look at each player’s run to the record, the other WNBA legends they’ve passed along the way and the players who are behind them on the scoring, rebounding and assist charts.
Taurasi: A scorer like no other
Taurasi, who says she has no plans to retire any time soon, is largely regarded as the greatest player in women’s basketball history. Voted the GOAT last year by fans as the WNBA celebrated its 25th season — and ranked as the No. 1 all-time player in WNBA history by an ESPN panel last September — Taurasi is known for two distinct characteristics as a scorer. She possesses an amazingly quick and effortless-looking release no matter where she’s shooting from on the court. And she has complete faith that she should be the one to take the shot no matter how high the stakes.
Even for someone like Taurasi, who…
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Source : espn
