Mercury’s Diana Taurasi ranked 21st on ESPN’s top 100 professional athletes list

Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi came in ranked at No. 21 on ESPN’s top 100 professional athletes since 2000 list.

Taurasi is the current WNBA-all time leading scorer and is the only player in WNBA history to have scored 10,000 career points. She has also led the WNBA in scoring five times.

Taurasi is in her 20th season with the Mercury after the organization selected her with the first overall pick in the 2004 WNBA Draft.

She is a three-time WNBA champion, two-time Finals MVP (2009, 2014), one-time WNBA MVP (2009), 11-time All-Star and a 10-time All-WNBA first team selection. Taurasi was also named the 2004 WNBA Rookie of the Year.

Before getting drafted by Phoenix, she spent four seasons at UConn, where she helped lead the Huskies to three NCAA championships (2002-04). Taurasi was twice named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player (2003-04).

She is about to try for her sixth Olympic gold medal, which would break the tie for the most in USA Basketball with former Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird.

Amongst all the athletes who had ties to Arizona, Taurasi came in behind only former Phoenix Sun Shaquille O’Neal (No. 17) and Michael Phelps (No. 1), who trained under ASU swimming coach Bob Bowman in preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Here is a look at the other notable Arizona athletes that made the cut:

Phoenix Suns

• Center Shaquille O’Neal (No. 17)
• Forward Kevin Durant (No. 39)
• Point guard Steve Nash (No. 51)
• Point guard Jason Kidd (No. 69)
• Point guard Chris Paul (No. 83)

Arizona State Sun Devils

• Swimmer Michael Phelps (No. 1)
• Left fielder Barry Bonds (No. 38)
• Guard James Harden (No. 67)
• Golfer Phil Mickelson (No. 68)

Arizona Wildcats

• Golfer Annika Sörenstram (No. 89)

Arizona Diamondbacks

• Pitcher Max Scherzer (No. 46)

Arizona Cardinals

• Defensive End J.J. Watt (No. 58)