'Welcome Back, Diana ' Banner Unveiled on City Hall
May 6, 2016 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Phoenix Mercury News Release
The three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury and City of Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton today unveiled a giant banner on the side of City Hall in downtown Phoenix to welcome back Mercury legend Diana Taurasi for the 2016 WNBA season. Fresh off EuroLeague and Russian League championships for UMMC Ekaterinburg, Taurasi will report to training camp Monday, May 9, and will be available to the media for the first time that day at 10 a.m. on the podium at Mercury Media Day.
The banner, which was the brainchild of Mayor Stanton and Mercury General Manager Jim Pitman, measures 40-feet high by 20-feet wide, and extends from the 16th floor balcony to the 11th on the east side of City Hall. Visible from all over downtown Phoenix, it was hung in part by Mercury mascot Scorch, who repelled off the building with the assistance of Squeegee Squad, a local window-cleaning company.
Coyotes star Shane Doan (1996 Phoenix debut) and Cardinals star Larry Fitzgerald (2004 NFL Draft) are the only active athletes with tenures as long or longer with Arizona teams than Taurasi, who was selected No. 1 overall by the Mercury in the 2004 WNBA Draft. Taurasi is a three-time WNBA Champion, two-time WNBA Finals MVP, 2009 WNBA MVP, seven-time WNBA All-Star, six-time EuroLeague Champion, and a three-time NCAA Champion at UCONN. Taurasi also owns three Olympic gold medals and last Wednesday was named to the USA Basketball Women's Team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. She did not play in the WNBA in 2015.
Women's National Basketball Association Stories from May 6, 2016
- Mercury Aquires Draft Pick from San Antonio - Phoenix Mercury
- 'Welcome Back, Diana ' Banner Unveiled on City Hall - Phoenix Mercury
- Minnesota Lynx Waive Nika Baric and Courtney Clements - Minnesota Lynx
- Fever Concludes Preseason with Win over Washington - Indiana Fever
- Sky Waives Guards Jacki Gemelos and Jordan Jones - Chicago Sky
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