Diana Taurasi reaches 10,000 points: WNBA's all-time leading scorer hits milestone for Mercury

Diana Taurasi is already the WNBA's all-time leading scorer, and now she's reached a new milestone: 10,000 career points. She did so in emphatic fashion with an incredible 42-point performance in the Phoenix Mercury's 91-71 win over the Atlanta Dream on Thursday night. 

Taurasi only needed 18 points to make history, and she got there in the third quarter with a deep 3-pointer -- a fitting way to go about it, considering she's also the league's all-time leader in made 3-pointers. 

Careening off a screen, Taurasi took a pass from Moriah Jefferson and fired a quick triple that caught nothing but net. She raised her arms in celebration and was soon joined by her teammates, who rushed off the bench as the crowd inside the Footprint Center erupted. 

There was a brief in-game ceremony, during which Taurasi was presented with the game ball and took a few photographs, but the real celebration took place after the game. The Mercury played a tribute video on the jumbotron and then had a ceremony at center court that featured gifts and messages from fellow basketball luminaries such as Seimone Augustus, Sylvia Fowles, Magic Johnson, Steve Nash and Dawn Staley. 

Finally, it was Taurasi's turn to take the mic. 

"Moments like this, that you share with a whole city, with teammates that I've been teammates with for years -- some for days -- and to see just how much everyone enjoys it, makes me feel really, really good," Taurasi said. "I'm thankful that I've gotten this opportunity to do this in front of you guys for 19 years, and I'm really, really thankful for the game of basketball. It's what I love, it's my passion, it makes me feel good every single day." 

With her 42 points, Taurasi became the league's all-time leader in 40-point games with four. This was her first 40-point outing since 2010, and the third-highest scoring game of her career. She also became the oldest player in league history to drop 40 points, and joined Michael Jordan as the only player in NBA or WNBA history to do so after turning 40 years old. 

Taurasi is the first player in WNBA history to score 10,000 career points, a mark that won't be matched for a long time, if ever. She became the all-time scoring champion in 2017 when she passed Tina Thompson, and has been building her lead in that category ever since. 

Here's a look at the WNBA's all-time scoring list (active players in bold):

In her prime, Taurasi was the most unstoppable scorer the league has ever seen. Her 25.3 points per game in 2006 are the highest-scoring single season in league history, and she's averaged more than 20 points per game seven times in her career, which is more than any other player.

Now 41, Taurasi is no longer the dominant offensive force she once was, but entering Thursday she still checked in at 19th in the league this season with 16.1 points per game.