Diana Taurasi Says 'No One Better' Than Caitlin Clark To Wear Her Team USA No. 12

Diana Taurasi won six Olympic gold medals and three FIBA world championships while wearing the No. 12 jersey for Team USA. Now, she says there's no one better to carry on that legacy than Caitlin Clark.

During an interview with Sports Illustrated's Grant Young on Monday, Taurasi explained how it felt to see the young superstar wearing her old number during the FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament earlier this month.

MORE: Caitlin Clark Named Tournament MVP As Team USA Rolls Through World Cup Qualifiers

"It's so cool. You know, to see Caitlin not only wear the USA jersey, but number 12," Taurasi said. "I mean, I spent two decades wearing that jersey and that number. And I couldn't think of anyone better to take it and put it on and just have an amazing career. And Caitlin will do that."

Clark wears No. 22 for the Indiana Fever — the same number she wore at Iowa. But for international play, Team USA has traditionally stuck with jersey numbers between 4 and 15.

Diana Taurasi passes the torch to Caitlin Clark.

(Getty Images)

Before officially retiring in February 2025, Taurasi had one of the most legendary — arguably THE most legendary — women's basketball careers of all time.

Spending all 20 of her WNBA seasons with the Phoenix Mercury, Taurasi is the leading scorer in league history with 10,646 regular-season points — nearly 3,000 points more than the second-leading all-time scorer, Tina Charles. She added another 1,476 points in her 72 playoff games.

Taurasi has 14 All-WNBA selections, 11 All-Star selections, three WNBA championships and a league MVP Award. At the 2024 Paris Games, she became the first basketball player to win six Olympic golds.

RELATED: Caitlin Clark Says Playing Against Childhood Idol Diana Taurasi Is 'Like A Dream Come True'

Of course, 24-year-old Caitlin Clark has a long way to go before she'll even sniff those stats. But Taurasi seems confident she has a monster career ahead of her — starting this September with the FIBA World Cup in Berlin.

"It's just going to be fun to watch her play this summer in Germany and then the Olympics," Taurasi said of Clark. "No one better to wear the 12, and Caitlin's going to put some gold medals on that jersey. I know it."

Taurasi said she had no influence over who would inherit her No. 12 jersey. But she believes her good friend Sue Bird might have had something to do with it.

"You know, once I'm out of things, I'm out," Taurasi said. "Sue, you know, she's a little bit more calculated than people think. So maybe that was a Sue job."

Taurasi ruffled some feathers ahead of the 2024 WNBA Draft when she publicly warned Clark that the WNBA is a different animal than college hoops.

But there certainly doesn't seem to be any animosity between these two now. Just mutual respect.