By Justin HAGER

You know you’re doing something right when the “Black Mamba,” Kobe Bryant, invokes his own legacy and nickname to bestow an honor upon you. And on Sunday night, the “White Mamba,” aka Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi, proved that she was deserving of Bryant’s recognition and a place next to Bryant in the record books as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.

Taurasi was already a 10-time WNBA all-star, five-time scoring champion, four-time Olympic gold medalist, three-time WNBA champion, three-time NCAA national champion, and the WNBA’s highest scoring player of all time – an honor she earned more than four years ago. But as her two-decade WNBA and collegiate career have repeatedly shown, she was not yet satisfied.

Of course, she could have just waited three weeks for her next great accomplishment: Taurasi has already been named to the Tokyo 2021 squad for what will be her fifth Olympic Games. But alas, the 39-year old Glendale native couldn’t wait. After being sidelined for five weeks with a fractured sternum, Taurasi returned to the court and put up 25 points against her hometown team, the Los Angeles Sparks. The next closest active player in the WNBA is former teammate Candice Dupree, who is more than 2,000 points behind Taurasi.

Beyond the sheer audacity of reaching 9,000 career points, the accomplishment was particularly special for two additional reasons: (1) It was the first game in which Phoenix Suns Arena, the home of the Mercury, was allowed to return to full capacity since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic; and (2) it fell on the final week of Pride Month. Four years earlier, during Pride month 2017 (the same month she broke the WNBA scoring record), she made headlines for a different reason – she was featured on the cover of People Magazine, hand-in-hand with her former teammate and newly married wife, Penny Taylor, on their wedding day.

When asked what 9,000 points means to her, Taurasi said, “It’s cool… I did it all with one team and that means a lot to me.”

Of course, in typical Taurasi fashion, she is already looking ahead to next great accomplishment.

“I guess I’ll be happy when I get to 10,000,” she said. “That’s when I’ll really celebrate, maybe even throw a party.”

Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury next play the Seattle Storm in Seattle on July 11.