Diana Taurasi ‘monument’ built in Wisconsin as Mercury return to WNBA Finals

Diana Taurasi, who retired ahead of the 2025 season and is largely regarded as the WNBA’s greatest player of all time, has received a bench in Wisconsin in her honor.

It is located in Door County, which is just north of Green Bay, and has nothing to do with her roots in Chino, California or leaguewide impact. But it has everything to do with her destroying a door on Oct. 17, 2021.

The day marked Game 4 of the 2021 WNBA Finals, the most recent finals trip for the Phoenix Mercury until this year.

The Chicago Sky won the then-best-of-five series handily 3-1 over the Mercury, and Taurasi unleashed her fury on a locker room door.

The Sky even brought the unfortunate door frame to their championship parade in Chicago, not letting the two-time WNBA Finals MVP forget the bout of rage.

That’s what inspired the bench’s inscription and the otherwise remote, meaningless location at Whitefish Dunes State Park.

“For D. Taurasi, who always hated doors.”

Congrats to the @phoenixmercury on their first trip to the @WNBA Finals since ‘21!

You may remember that season the great @dianataurasi took on not only the @chicagosky but also their door. 🚪In honor of this WNBA lore, the Door County DT bench was born. Now you can go visit it! pic.twitter.com/n0JeA9O8NV

— Sarah Spain (@SarahSpain) September 29, 2025

“She retired with the most points and technicals in the history of the WNBA, which is my favorite combination,” said a woman introducing the bench to the public while accompanied by an actual goat named Nacho.

Taurasi left Wintrust Arena without her fourth title (2007, ’09, 2014) but closed out her illustrious 20 seasons, all with Phoenix, as the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer in the regular season (10,646 points) and the only player to achieve six Olympic gold medals (2004, ’08, 2012, ’16, 2020, ’24).

Back to the actual business at hand, the Mercury kick off the first ever best-of-seven WNBA Finals against the Aces in Las Vegas on Friday.

Games 3 and 4 in Phoenix will be contested on Wednesday and next Friday, both having tipoff at 5 p.m. from the newly named Mortgage Matchup Center.

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