Dawn Staley once made Diana Taurasi take her shorts off in the middle of practice and exchange with teammate
Dawn Staley once starred in a curious situation with WNBA legend Diana Taurasi when they crossed paths on the USA Basketball women’s national team. The former player recalled how her first practice with Team USA went and how the coach made her exchange shorts with a teammate.
During an April 2022 appearance on “The Bird & Taurasi Show,” the Phoenix Mercury guard recalled a funny situation when she believed she would kill a practice before Staley brought her back to earth.
“We were doing shooting drills, it was the first practice I ever had with the national team and I was swag, I had my big shorts on. I was like, ‘I’m about to bust these old heads.’ She goes, D, take those shorts off.’ I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ She goes, ‘Katie has small shorts, she needs big shorts.’
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“She made me in the middle of a shooting drill, take my shorts off, give them to Katie Smith and put on the small shorts and I was like, ‘This is really fun but I can’t wait to go to Athens,'” Taurasi recalled.
This happened ahead of the 2004 Summer Olympics held in Athens, Greece. Taurasi shared touches with Staley, who was still active at the time.
The squad went undefeated in the basketball tournament, winning all eight games to secure the fifth overall gold medal and the third consecutive. They scored 672 points against 482, with Diana Taurasi averaging 8.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 0.9 steals per game with Team USA. She shot 58.8% from the field and 73.3% from the free-throw line.
Diana Taurasi’s WNBA future remains up in the air
It’s been over 20 years since Diana Taurasi starred in the fun moment with Dawn Staley. While Staley is a successful, three-time national champion coach in the NCAA, Taurasi became one of the best female players of all time with the Phoenix Mercury.
After the 2024 WNBA season, she was reportedly pondering her options regarding retirement. The three-time champion talked with the Associated Press about her future, saying that she’d take time to make a final call.
“I don’t take retirement lightly. I know the minute I say it or announce it, whether it’s, you know, in a month or two months, I’m going to mean it,” Taurasi said. “I talk to [wife Penny Taylor] and the Mercury, so I’m still in the thought process.”
Taurasi is one of the most honored players of all time and she still can collect silverware.
