Mercury star Diana Taurasi joins growing list of WNBA's best players to miss start of season
The WNBA season tips off in one month and yet another star player has announced she’ll miss at least part of the upcoming season.
The Phoenix Mercury announced guard Diana Taurasi, one of the league’s most recognizable players, will miss up to 12 weeks after undergoing successful back surgery Wednesday.
Taurasi expected to miss 10-to-12 weeks
The Mercury announced Thursday the 36-year-old Taurasi underwent surgery for a disc protrusion in her back. It was performed to relieve pain and muscle weakness
“Diana began experiencing symptoms during offseason workouts, notified us, and in conjunction with our medical staff determined the right course of action,” Mercury general manager Jim Pitman said in a statement. “We have confidence that this procedure will not only get her back on the court but ensure she can get back to chasing around her toddler son, Leo, as well.”
The Mercury begin training camp next week in preparation for the May 25 opener against the Seattle Storm. She is expected to return in mid-July, approximately the mid-point of a season that runs through Sept. 8.
Taurasi is the league’s all-time leading scorer and 3-point shooter and holds 10 all-WNBA first-team selections, a record. She has three championships in her 15 seasons, all in Phoenix.
Five of league’s top 15 scorers will miss time
Taurasi is not the only superstar to miss the start of the 2019 campaign. Her injury brings it to five of the league’s top 15 scorers from last season who won’t be on the court next month.
The reigning champion Seattle Storm will be without league MVP Breanna Stewart, who will miss the entire season after undergoing surgery for a torn Achilles suffered in the EuroLeague final. She averaged a second-best 21.8 points per regular season game last year.
Minnesota Lynx superstar Maya Moore announced she will sit out the season for personal reasons as she invests time in family and ministry. A 2018 survey of GMs named her the best forward in the league.
Angel McCoughtry, the Atlanta Dream forward who ranked first on many of the GMs questions, tore ligaments in her knee the day the team clinched a berth in the playoffs. She is still rehabbing and will return at some point this year.
Skylar Diggins-Smith will miss part of the Dallas Wings season. Diggins-Smith announced six months ago she was pregnant with her first child.
The league’s leading scorer from last season is undecided on her status for the season. Wings center Liz Cambage, who finished second in MVP voting, asked for a trade in January to the Los Angeles Sparks. She averaged a league-best 23.0 points per game along with an average 9.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
High Post Hoops’ Howard Megdal updated the stalemate last week and if the Australian isn’t traded, she may sit out. If she does, all three of the league’s top scorers (Cambage, Stewart, Taurasi) will be on the sidelines to start the season.
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