Just one participant in WNBA historical past has scored extra factors than Atlanta Dream middle Tina Charles.
Early within the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s 72-63 victory over the Phoenix Mercury, Charles registered profession level No. 7,489. The feat helped the 14-year veteran go Corridor of Famer Tina Thompson for second on the league’s all-time scoring record.
Fittingly, Charles completed the monumental feat throughout the court docket from pal and WNBA all-time main scorer Diana Taurasi. The pair competed alongside each other internationally and had been briefly teammates on the Mercury in 2022, however additionally they shared the frequent bond of getting come from the UConn Huskies program.
Taurasi has been the league’s high scorer since passing Thompson in 2017. In the meantime, simply over a 12 months in the past, Taurasi turned the primary participant in league historical past to surpass 10,000 career points.
Now second in factors all-time, might Charles catch Taurasi? In all probability not, even when she performs so long as the 42-year-old future Corridor of Famer, who entered Wednesday’s motion in her twentieth WNBA season with 10,497 factors, 3,108 greater than the Dream middle.
However that doubtless does not matter a lot to Charles. No matter what’s forward, she’s already established herself among the many league’s all-time greats.
An eight-time All-Star and the 2012 MVP, Charles got here into Wednesday solely 148 rebounds away from passing Sylvia Fowles for essentially the most in WNBA historical past, per Stathead. In the meantime, she’s the only player in league history to report not less than 7,000 factors, 3,500 rebounds, 900 assists and 400 blocks in a profession.
