On 42nd birthday, Phoenix Mercury’s Diana Taurasi reflects on what she’d tell younger self

Many people feel some type of way about Diana Taurasi’s blunt advice for rookie Caitlin Clark in April about playing in the WNBA, and Clark not being chosen for the 12-person Team USA Olympic roster finalized on Tuesday.

Taurasi and Phoenix Mercury teammates Kahleah Copper and Brittney Griner also are on the roster.

But what would Taurasi, the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer who turned 42 on Tuesday, say to her younger self when she entered the league with Clark’s same level of stardom in 2004?

“I would say, ‘Do it exactly the same,'” Taurasi said during the Mercury’s Tuesday media availability. “Life is about ups and downs. It’s never an easy road to where you want to get to.” Life is about mistakes. It’s about getting better. It’s about acknowledging things that maybe didn’t go your way. That’s how you become a better person. That’s how you become more confident in what you’re doing.

“It’s not the easy times. Those are like, yeah, that’s fun, but the hard times, can you get past those? So I wouldn’t tell myself to do anything differently. Everything happens for a reason and the way you react to it really is ultimately what makes you who you are.”

Taurasi’s close friend, the late Kobe Bryant, penned reflections on his 20-year career, all with the Los Angeles Lakers, in a short-form memoir titled “Letter To My Younger Self” published in The Players’ Tribune just months after he retired in April 2016. Bryant nicknamed Taurasi “The White Mamba,” the female parallel to the Hall of Famer’s moniker The Black Mamba.

Taurasi is proud of her alma mater UConn’s indelible mark on the WNBA and USA women’s basketball team.

She’s on the quest for her sixth gold medal in Paris starting in late July. That would be the most won by a player in the USA men’s or women’s basketball team histories, and one more than her best friend and former UConn teammate Sue Bird, who played with Taurasi in all five Olympiads since 2004.

UConn women’s basketball coach and 11-time national champion Geno Auriemma, who’s entering his 40th year at the program, led Team USA with Taurasi to its gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics.

Team USA selection committee chairwoman Jen Rizzotti was the point guard who helped drive UConn to its first national title in 1995.

“When you talk about UConn, there’s a reason why we’re everywhere,” Taurasi said as she shrugged and laughed. “They usually get the best players out of high school, the best college players, and the best pros. I think people try to overthink that. That’s very simple to me.”

On the men’s side of UConn basketball, Taurasi felt torn about the two-time defending national champion’s coach Dan Hurley on Monday rejecting the Lakers’ offer of reportedly $70 million for six years. Taurasi, a Southern California native, grew up as a Lakers fan.

Hurley is the younger brother of Arizona State men’s basketball coach Bobby Hurley.

“I didn’t want him to leave UConn, obviously because I love what he does there. I love what he represents,” Taurasi said with a sigh. “Being a Laker fan, I would’ve loved for him to be in Los Angeles. But the one thing about Dan is that he really has a clear focus of what he wants to be as a coach, and right now that’s being at Connecticut, being himself, coaching the way he coaches, and I think that’s an amazing move for him.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diana Taurasi reflects on her career for 42nd birthday, UConn’s impact