Tina Charles becomes WNBA’s all-time FG leader: What would it take to pass Diana Taurasi’s scoring record?

No player in WNBA history has made more baskets than Tina Charles. Early in the Connecticut Sun’s loss to the Chicago Sky on Wednesday, Charles surpassed Diana Taurasi to become the league’s all-time leader in made field goals. 

Charles, who finished the night with 19 points on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, has now made 3,347 shots during her legendary career. Taurasi, who remains the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer (10,646 points), is the only other player with even 3,000 field goals. Here’s a look at the leaders in that category:

WNBA’s all-time field goal leaders

*Active players

Tina Charles*

3,347

Diana Taurasi

3,341

Nneka Ogwumike*

2,849

Candice Dupree

2,842

Tina Thompson

2,630

Charles’ history-making bucket came mid-way through the first quarter when she used her experience and positioning to seal Sky center Kamilla Cardoso on the high side of the floor. All Marina Mabrey had to do was throw Charles the ball and the veteran had an easy two points. 

Including her 19 points against the Sky, Charles is up to 8,353 points, which is second to Taurasi on the all-time scoring list.

While Charles has made more shots, almost all of her work has come inside the arc. Charles didn’t start shooting 3-pointers on a regular basis until 2016, her seventh season in the league, and has only made 197 of them in her career. Taruasi, on the other hand, is the league’s all-time leader in 3s by a wide margin with 1,447. Furthermore, Taurasi is the league’s all-time leader in free throws with 2,517. Though Charles is seventh on that list, her 1,462 free throws are more than 1,000 fewer than Taurasi. 

Taurasi’s significant advantage from the 3-point line and free-throw line is how she has 2,293 more points than Charles despite making fewer field goals. 

At Charles’ current pace of 16.4 points per game — her highest scoring average since 2021 — it would take her 140 games to break Taurasi’s scoring record. Even with the league’s new 44-game schedule, that’s three-plus seasons. Charles will turn 37 in December and already retired for a season in 2023. Will she be willing to play into her 40s to take Taurasi’s crown? 

Earlier this season, Charles made an appearance on Sue Bird’s podcast and said she thinks about retirement “every day.”

“I probably think about [retirement] every day,” Charles said. “Every day. It’s the losing compounded with going in playing at this age. Playing in the 30 minute range and just how you feel physically. And it’s more games. I feel like when I came in 2010 it was like 31, 32ish games. I think the games we started the season in June. Now you have 44 games.”

Charles, who signed a one-year deal with the Sun in free agency, is averaging 16.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game this season and is Connecticut’s leading scorer. While she’s shown that she can still compete at a high level, the Sun are 10-31 and will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016. 

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 WNBA Draft, Charles was named MVP in 2012, has won two scoring titles, made eight All-Star Games and nine All-WNBA appearances. In 2021, she was named one of the league’s 25 greatest players. The only piece of hardware missing from Charles’ collection is a championship trophy. If she returns to play next summer, it would not be a surprise to see her join a contender.