Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi out 4 weeks with chest injury

The Phoenix Mercury will be without star guard Diana Taurasi for at least four weeks due to a chest injury.

Diana Taurasi, the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer, will miss the next four weeks as she recovers from a fractured sternum, the Phoenix Mercury announced on Tuesday.

The Mercury, who opened the WNBA season 2-2, will have to find a way to replace Taurasi’s scoring output and offensive presence. More so, they’ll be missing a certain amount of swagger and killer instinct that Taurasi brings every time she steps on the hardwood.

Taurasi, who turns 39 in less than three weeks, is still one of the WNBA’s premier scoring threats, averaging just under 16 points and four assists per game in the early days of her 17th WNBA season. She hit a game-winning three at the buzzer on opening night and has scored in double digits in all four games thus far.

Mercury: Phoenix will miss Diana Taurasi quite a bit

Remarkably, Taurasi played the Mercury’s two most recent games with a fractured sternum, an injury she sustained on May 16 against the Connecticut Sun. Looking at her stats, you wouldn’t know anything was wrong.

Yes, you read that correctly. With an injury that would have most of us mortal beings struggle to get dressed, Taurasi knocked down 30 points in 51 minutes of WNBA action.

The nine-time WNBA All-Star is two 3-pointer’s away from reaching 9,000 points in her storied career. No other player has surpassed 7500.

As far as Taurasi’s individual milestones go, perhaps the one most in jeopardy due to this injury is her chance at playing in a fifth Olympic Games this summer. Likely sidelined until July, her odds of cracking the roster for a USA team seeking its seventh straight gold medal are shrinking.

Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery for one of the WNBA’s all-time greats.