The 8,000-Point Club is Two Former Mercury Players

There are now two members of the WNBA's 8,000-point club and they have both played for the Phoenix Mercury.

Aug 7, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; United States guard Diana Taurasi (12) brings the ball up court with center Tina Charles (14) against Senegal during the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Youth Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

On Sunday, Tina Charles put up a 20-point, 10-rebound double-double in the Connecticut Sun's 79-65 loss to the Seattle Storm. The performance brought her career scoring total over 8,000 points, making her just the second player in WNBA history to reach the historic milestone, after league legend Diana Taurasi.

Despite enduring a difficult season on a rebuilding Sun team, the 36-year-old Charles has had a solid individual season, averaging 15.6 points per game for the franchise with which she began her career back in 2010.

Her 8,019 points trail only Taurasi's 10,646. And, like Taurasi, she has donned the Phoenix Mercury's jersey.

The Mercury signed the WNBA icon in 2022, during a tumultuous season led by then-new head coach Vanessa Nygaard, who stepped into the role after the Mercury let former championship head coach Sandy Brondello go.

While the team made the playoffs, it was an all-round strange season, with the team winning just 15 regular season games and none in the postseason. Charles played alongside fellow stars Taurasi and Skylar Diggins, with Charles posting the team's second-highest scoring average (17.3 points per game, along with 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists), ahead of even Taurasi, and even shot pretty well from three (36.4%).

But, her time with the Mercury was short-lived. She'd play just 16 games for Phoenix before the player and team mutually agreed to terminate her contract, after which she joined the Seattle Storm. Nygaard declined to comment other than that Charles had "elected not to play" in a few games, and that both sides were ready to move on.

Charles still clearly has plenty left in the tank in 2025, but it's unclear how long she'll want to remain with a team that currently sits at 3-18 in the standings, with a disastrous -15.6 point differential. It's not likely she'll top Taurasi's career points total, but if she plays a couple more seasons, she could make sole ownership of second place hers for a long time.

Behind her in third is DeWanna Bonner, now back with the Mercury after five seasons with the Sun. She had spent the first 10 years of her WNBA career in the desert. In all, the top three scorers in the history of the league are all either current or former Phoenix Mercury players.

You can follow us on X or on Facebook for more Mercury updates!

feed