<\/p>\n
Phoenix Mercury injured guard Kelsey Plum against the Portland Fire at Mortgage Matchup Center on Aug. 16, 2026.<\/p>\n
Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Plum has remained a popular topic in Phoenix. Even though she\u00a0didn’t\u00a0make her home debut on Aug. 16, she\u00a0was heavily in the spotlight during Diana Taurasi’s\u00a0Ring of Honor ceremony\u00a0that same night.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
When\u00a0Taurasi\u00a0returned to Phoenix for her retirement ceremony, her\u00a0pitch to Plum was\u00a0short and sweet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Where else would you rather be?\u00a0You’ve\u00a0tried the rest,” Taurasi said with a smirk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taurasi later publicly wooed Plum during her Ring of Honor induction speech on\u00a0Aug. 16,\u00a0and\u00a0called seeing her in the Mercury jersey a “full circle moment” before telling her\u00a0to “sign the extension”\u00a0in front of a cheering crowd.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many appreciate Plum’s origin story \u2014 someone who grew up in Southern\u00a0California\u00a0idolizing Taurasi and wanting to\u00a0follow in her footsteps.<\/p>\n
Both have used the phrase “full circle” repeatedly when talking about each other. In some ways, Taurasi could\u00a0pass on\u00a0the torch to Plum if she\u00a0remains\u00a0in Phoenix.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“There are not many moments in life where you see someone you want to emulate, and then you’re\u00a0now in the same space as them,” Plum said\u00a0on Aug. 25. “I just feel super blessed.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Plum and Kahleah Copper have an established bond from various Team USA camps. Copper is one of the biggest recruiters.<\/p>\n
“Oh, I’m going to show her a good time,” Copper said at practice on Aug. 14. “All you had to do was get here… Look at this place. What does she want for breakfast? I know she loves\u00a0protein;\u00a0we give her all her protein snacks. Whatever she needs, it’s just paradise for her.”<\/p>\n
The community has been welcoming to Plum in the month\u00a0she’s\u00a0been with the team. Mayor Kate Gallego introduced herself to Plum when the two were at Taurasi’s updated street sign unveiling on Aug. 13.\u00a0Plum celebrated\u00a0her 32nd\u00a0birthday\u00a0at an escape room in the Phoenix area\u00a0on\u00a0Aug.\u00a024,\u00a0and\u00a0was received very warmly by\u00a0the staff.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phoenix Mercury injured guard Kelsey Plum against the Portland Fire at Mortgage Matchup Center on Aug. 16, 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1046961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[49],"tags":[5643,12900,5610,1589,1502,56898,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":["post-1046960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-arizona","tag-diana-taurasi","tag-kelsey-plum","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-plum","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wnba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117224332155630229","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1046961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}