Mercury guard Diana Taurasi will miss the remainder of the 2022 WNBA regular season with a quad strain, the team announced Monday.
Regarding the possibility of Taurasi returning for the playoffs, a Mercury spokesperson told ESPN’s Alexa Philippou, “She is out for the remainder of the regular season and will provide more info if/when we do make the playoffs.”
Taurasi appeared to sustain the injury in Tuesday’s loss to the Sun. She left the game early after seeing just 11 minutes of action and did not play in either of Phoenix’s two games since.
Yvonne “Vonnie” Turner, a WNBA veteran who last played for the Dream, has signed a hardship contract to fill Taurasi’s spot on the Mercury roster. The 34-year-old guard, who played for Phoenix from 2017 to ’19, has averaged 4.3 points and two rebounds in six games so far this season.
Prior to the injury, the 40-year-old Taurasi has been as sharp as ever in her 18th season in the league, all of which have been spent in Phoenix. In 31 games, all starts, she has averaged 16.7 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds.
Unfortunately, Taurasi’s injury comes at a crucial juncture for the 14–19 Mercury, who find themselves narrowly clinging to the league’s eighth and final playoff spot. With three regular-season games remaining, Phoenix is just a half-game ahead of the Liberty and one game ahead of the Lynx and Sparks.
The Mercury will close out the campaign with three home games this week on Wednesday (vs. Lynx), Friday (vs. Wings) and Sunday (vs. Sky).
Editor’s note, Aug. 8 at 6:55 p.m. ET: An earlier version of this story stated that Taurasi would miss the remainder of the season. The Mercury later clarified by saying Taurasi would miss the rest of the regular season.
