LeBron, NBA stars, famous athletes applaud Taurasi

7, 494.

While that number represents Diana Taurasi’s career points — for now anyways — it also represents the hard work and dedication Taurasi has put in over the years.

It is no easy feat to score thousands of points, especially when the WNBA has had so many prolific scorers. It takes focus and a diligent work ethic to show up night in and night out to put up the numbers Taurasi has in her 13 seasons in the league. Lots of hours off the court with repetition at game speed. The time she has put into the game continues to pay off as she continues to rack up accolades in her career.

Yesterday thousands of individuals watched Taurasi pass her long time friend and competitor, Tina Thompson, to become the WNBA’s All-Time scoring champ.

As she continued to finish her game, multiple athletes expressed their congratulations to Taurasi -- including Thompson who had the record just hours before Phoenix tipped off against Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant happened to be at the Staples Center yesterday to watch the moment live. He joined all fans in attendance in a standing ovation once Taurasi made her layup to pass Thompson, but after the game sent out a Tweet to congratulate her once again.

Kevin Durant and LeBron James also jumped at the opportunity to give a shoutout to Taurasi on their personal pages; James took it even a step further with a video addressing Taurasi.

The State of Arizona is one of the few states with a professional women’s basketball team, NBA team, and an NFL team. Stars in that community, Devin Booker and Larry Fitzgerald, were also individuals who immediately sent praise.

It wasn’t just the athletes in Arizona to celebrate Taurasi’s historical game: Major Greg Stanton did, too.

Retired soccer standout Mia Hamm also took to Twitter calling Taurasi the “G.O.A.T.” And of course her sponsor Nike did not let the moment pass.

With plenty of the season still left to play, and Taurasi’s contract extension, she will be in the league for a while. The question now, how many more points will she score before she decides to retire? Who knows, for now, we will continue to watch the greatest scorer in WNBA history play ball.