Nika Muhl couldn’t help but smile after being asked what UConn and WNBA legend Diana Taurasi told her after the Seattle Storm star rookie scored her first career points.
In the final game of the 2024 season, Taurasi and the Mercury took on Muhl and the Storm in Arizona, in what could be the 42-year-old legend’s last regular season game of her career. At the time, both teams already were in playoff contention and didn’t have much riding on the game, which led to the Storm and Fever giving players who had not seen much action playing time to end the season.
One of those players was Muhl, who played 14 minutes, scoring two points, dishing out three assists and grabbing two rebounds. Of note, those two points were the first of the Croatian star’s career, leading many former UConn players and teammates to congratulate the rookie on her accomplishment.
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Taurasi was among those who congratulated Muhl on her achievement. That said, the 23-year-old explained to reporters how she was unable to share what Taurasi told her, smiling as she did so.
“Oh my God. I’m not going to say what exactly she said,” a giggling Muhl told reporters. “I mean, she was just, you know, she was happy for me.
“She was proud of me, she knows how it is. She’s got a little bit of Italian in her – a lot of Italian in her – so I was so grateful to have been able to be there, yet alone play in a game that’s possibly her last regular season game.
“Literally the greatest player of all time ever. I told her I would’ve been in the stands watching that game if I wasn’t playing on a team. So that, to me, was one of the greatest experiences of my life and I’m so proud of her for everything that she’s done.”
UConn and WNBA legend Diana Taurasi had a moment with Seattle Storm rookie Nika Muhl in the final regular season game (
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The respect between Muhl and Taurasi goes both ways. After a preseason game between Seattle and Phoenix, the 42-year-old star had glowing praise for Muhl’s playstyle and how she conducted herself on the court.
“Yeah, I’ve been a fan of Nika since she got to the school,” Taurasi said, according to the CT Insider. “I mean, she plays with that, that grit. She has that Eastern Bloc mindset, which nothing is given to them and I just love the way she works and she’s gonna have a hell of a career, because she loves the game, because she’s selfless.”
It wasn’t just Taurasi who was impressed with Muhl and her play. WNBA legend Sue Bird was in attendance to watch the two former UConn stars battle it out and even she couldn’t contain her excitement upon seeing Muhl score her first points.
“Hey, wait. Nika Muhl scored her first points,” Bird told her partner Megan Rapinoe on a recent episode of their podcast, “A Touch More” [h/t Essentially Sports]. “That got me out of my chair, that got me more out of my chair than anything else. I was very happy for her, so that’s cool.
“She was like, she ripped her at half court, got her, got the layup, and got in there. It was perfect for Nika, it was cool.”
Muhl and the Storm saw their season end at the hands of the Las Vegas Aces in a two-game sweep. Taurasi and the Mercury also saw their season end after the Minnesota Lynx, led by star Napheesa Collier, eliminated them from the playoffs in a sweep, in what could have been Taurasi’s final game.
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