Top 50 Diana Taurasi Quotes

I probably spoke Spanish growing up about 95 percent of the time.

I knew Kobe pretty well and he was a guy that was always moving forward.

I am very much the daughter of immigrants. It’s both a point of pride and an essential part of characterizing my upbringing. We spoke Spanish in our house. We listened to Spanish music. All of the TV channels we watched were in Spanish. We ate mostly Italian and Argentinian food.

Basketball is really important to a lot of people in the U.S., and no one takes it more serious than women.

I’m a first-generation American. My mother is from Argentina. My father is from Italy. When my dad was around five or six, his family migrated to Argentina. That’s where he met my mom. They got married, and moved to Los Angeles – North Hollywood, to be exact.

When I was 13, we went back to Argentina to live for a year. I got to see my extended family – really see them: where they grew up, how they lived. It was a different kind of struggle. There is no money. There are no jobs. And they still have to find a way to feed their families.

Being a mom makes me prioritize the game of basketball for what it is – a game. For so long I was so addicted to it and it would get me really high or really low. Now I know that once I walk off the court, I can’t control that anymore and I have other things I have to focus on and give my attention and love to.

You hit a certain age and it’s, are you still motivated to play? It’s the motivation, the drive that kind of leads you, and the body goes, too.

When I first arrived at UConn, I told myself I was going to dedicate my life to basketball. And when you do something like that, you alienate a lot of other things in your life that most people think are normal things to do.

I heard I was the self-proclaimed White Mamba, which I can say I have never self-proclaimed myself anything.

I’m going to do everything I can to play at a high level. I say this to a lot of my good friends: ‘The minute you see that I suck, tell me and I’m out.’ Instead of lying to me, someone let me know!

The minute you get in a five-game series, you start thinking strategy, you start thinking about adjustments. Single elimination, you’ve got to go all out, all-in. I think that affects the coaching, it affects the playing, it affects the psyche going into the game.

I can play through pain.

It’s funny, there’s all these slogans like ‘you’re never too old to keep dreaming.’ You know it’s funny how in the basketball world, and in the business world where you’re just supposed to stop. In the sports world, I feel like at 35 you’re just supposed to stop. If you do, that’s great.

We got to see the world, we’re put on some of the best teams in Europe, we made a lot of money, and then the flip side is it was 12 years of our parents getting older.

Tomorrow’s not promised so you’ve really got to take advantage of what you have in the present.

I now know I can live without basketball.

I always wanted to be a dentist.

When you’re young, you want to put up the numbers, you want to be ‘the man.’

If anything, when you play against family, you never want to lose, whether it’s your sister or it’s your best friend. When you know that person so well, at the end of the day, you want to beat them.

You can have an all-star team but not everyone plays at an all-star level.

I try to envision what life is after basketball, but I just see myself working out and just being a basketball player still.

It means a lot to be in one place for my whole career. The minute I got drafted in Phoenix, I knew it was a place I was going to be for a long time. But we know in the sports world and life in general, you don’t know where it takes you sometimes.

Whatever career you’re in, whether it’s business or sports, it’s hard to keep friendships alive. It’s hard to keep them thriving and remain interested in each other’s lives when you have so much going on personally.

My favorite was Magic Johnson. Talk about a man who loved to play basketball and who enjoyed it the most. And growing up I was big Katie Smith fan.

I always say there’s a couple things that I look at when I’m playing basketball. Do I enjoy going to the gym? Do I enjoy being in the locker room? When I get on the court do I still have that competitive fire to hate the person I’m playing against?

My favorite basketball shoe is the ’92 Nike Uptempo – white/black/turquoise or you can go with the all black/white, which I loved.

I go to sleep every single night thinking I’m not good enough. I really do. I don’t know if that’s healthy or not. But I really do have a fear of not being good, and I don’t like that.

There’s a certain reason why certain people win because they have a winning mentality and they bring it into the locker room, into the gym every single day. You can’t have enough of those people.

A lot of stuff has happened to me and Phoenix has always been there for me.

I even love getting older, and knowing maybe I can’t do one thing as well, but then trying to figure out how to do something else. That inner drive, I have it every day.

I am bilingual.

I never need to be motivated to be on the court. That’s the one thing that comes very naturally to me.

I’m lucky to have Penny around, she keeps the ship afloat.

I just have this inner insecurity that I’m never good enough.

Thankfully, there was not a lot of social media around when I was growing up.

As you get older, you get less people to hold you accountable, especially in pro sports. The players have all the power. Unless you play for the Spurs. Then you’re a college kid for life.

I fell in love with the LeBron 10s, I wore those for about five-and-a-half years and I didn’t switch over until the 14s.

For as many championships that I’ve won, I’ve been on a lot of teams that haven’t won one.

I always say that I know I’ll be done playing basketball when I stop fighting on the floor. If you don’t play with that edge or that competitive spirit, you’re just another player out there. I can only speak for myself, but when I don’t play with that fight then I’m just ordinary.

I want to be able to take care of myself and my family when I am done playing.

When they say my name, I want them to say the Phoenix Mercury and vice versa. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Every training I want to prove myself, every practice.

I can say I want to be known as the prettiest player ever but I don’t control that, the people control that. So all I can do is show up to work every day and give my best.

If there was a basketball rehab, I’d be the first one admitted.

People say, ‘How would you do in the men’s game?’ I say, Give me a man’s frame, and I think I’d do O.K.

You tell me I play like a man, and I’ll tell you, ‘Hey, thanks.’

Any league that talks about that – they care about their players – is lying.

I’ve gone left 90% of my career, guess what, I still go left.

You have to have people around you that motivate you that you want to play really hard for and always play at the highest level.