Penny Taylor

At 42 years old, Penny Taylor has this physical status:

Penelope Jane 'Penny' Taylor (born 24 May 1981) is an Australian retired professional basketball player who is now an assistant coach of the Phoenix Mercury.

During her 19-year career, Taylor spent the most time with the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, where she won three championships.

She also won the WNBL with her first club, the Australian Institute of Sport, and played in China, Italy, Turkey and Russia.

As part of the Australian woman's national team, Taylor won two Olympic medals and led the Australian Opals to a gold medal at the World Championships, winning tournament MVP honours ahead of teammate Lauren Jackson.

Early life

Penny Taylor was born in Melbourne, Victoria to English parents Michael Taylor and Denna Noble. She has a younger brother named Phillip, step-sister Abbey and an older sister named Heather. Her parents enrolled Taylor in the Belgrave South Red Devils basketball club at the age of 4. The camaraderie helped Taylor overcome her shyness, and eventually move to the Nunawading Spectres. She attended Upwey High School in Upwey, Victoria, and after graduating earned a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

Taylor holds a UK passport due to her parents' origin.

Personal life

Taylor was married in 2005 to Brazilian volleyball player Rodrigo Rodrigues Gil, but they later divorced. On 13 May 2017, she married fellow Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi. On 1 March 2018, the couple welcomed their first child when Taylor gave birth to their son Leo Michael Taurasi-Taylor. On 26 July 2021, it was announced Taylor was pregnant with their second child, due in October. On 9 October 2021, Taylor gave birth to their first daughter, Isla Taurasi-Taylor, with Taurasi by her side mere hours after Taurasi played the Las Vegas Aces in Las Vegas for game five of the 2021 WNBA Semifinals.

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WNBL career

Taylor debuted in the Women's National Basketball League (AIS), winning the WNBL title the following season. She then migrated to Dandenong Rangers, where she remained from 1999 to 2002. Taylor led the league in scoring with 25.5 points per game and looves per game during the 2000–01 season, earning him the WNBL MVP of that season and the next.

Taylor signed with the Rangers in the 2014–15 WNBL season after 12 years away from the Australian league. Her main aim for the return was to remain close to her family, playing in front of her nephews while still caring for her cancer-ridden father. In a game against 17 matches in qualifying the Rangers for the playoffs, she scored 20.2 points. The Rangers were 15 points down when Taylor injured her ankle with eight minutes remaining in the semifinals against the Sydney Uni Flames, and Sydney's absence was enough for Sydney to take over and win the game.

WNBA career

During the annual WNBA Draft on April 20, 2001, Taylor was chosen by the Cleveland Rockers in the first round (11th overall). She appeared on the Rockers for three seasons.

The WNBA released a dispersal draft in January 2004, where the league's current rosters selected former players from the Rockers team. Taylor was selected by the Phoenix Mercury as the first overall pick.

In July 2007, she was selected as a reserve for the WNBA All Star game. The Phoenix Mercury defeated the Detroit Shock in the final game 5 of the WNBA championship, 108 – 92, on September 16, 2007; the first team to lose a finals series at an away venue in the WNBA.

Taylor sat out most of the 2009 season after suffering ankle surgery that required nine weeks of recovery, but he returned to the Mercury mid-season and averaged 10.7 points off the bench. The Mercury continued to win the WNBA Championship this year by defeating the Indiana Fever 3 games to 2, with Taylor making two crucial free throws down the stretch to help clinch the game 94–86.

Taylor sustained a left knee injury while playing in Turkey during the 2012 WNBA offseason, and was forced to miss the Mercury's season. Taylor's year-long recovery in Australia involved three knee surgeries, including one to remove floating cartilage found in a magnetic resonance imaging scan, and her mother died of cancer. Taylor's return to the Mercury in 2013 culminated in her other knee injury after six games, resulting in more surgery.

Taylor spent the 2014 pre-season with both the Mercury and the Phoenix Suns health staff to ensure her return to basketball was successful. Taylor played few minutes in the first eleven games of the 2014 WNBA season under new coach and ex Australia teammate Sandy Brondello. Taylor returned as a Mercury starter after Brondello's return to win the following 16 games, the longest win streak in WNBA history and not lose again at home for the remainder of the 2014 season. Taylor's return helped the team win by an average of 10.5 points per game, as well as the best record in league history with 29 victories and 5 losses, with only one of whom had Taylor as a starter. The Mercury Mercury returned to the WNBA Finals after defeating the Chicago Sky. Since the death of her father, an unsigned free agent in 2015, she decided to postpone the 2015 season for personal reasons. Taylor re-signed the Mercury on February 8, 2016, and she was on hand for the first game of her 13th season in the WNBA. Taylor revealed that she would retire at the end of the season before the August break for the Olympics. In the WNBA semifinals, the Mercury were swept by the Minnesota Lynx in their last game of her career.

Coaching career

Taylor joined the Phoenix Mercury in March 2017 as the Director of Player Development and Performance for her former WNBA team. Taylor took a year off coaching after giving birth to a son in March 2018. Taylor was hired as an assistant coach by the Mercury in April 2019. Diana Taurasi, Taylor's spouse, is a member of the Phoenix Mercury as of September 2019. Taylor would resign as assistant coach of the Mercury to concentrate on being a full-time mother, according to a press release on July 6, 2020.

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