(Reuters) – Elena Delle Donne, a two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player and 2016 Olympic gold medallist for Team USA, announced her retirement from basketball on Friday after sitting out the 2024 season.
The 35-year-old Delle Donne, who led the Washington Mystics to their only Women’s National Basketball Association title in 2019, was hampered during the latter stages of her career by back surgeries and other injuries.
“One of my favorite children’s books asked, ‘How did it get so late so soon?’ I have asked myself that over and over again in the process of coming to the decision to retire from playing basketball,” Delle Donne, who turned down a contract in February 2024 to step away from basketball, wrote on Instagram.
“Being able to say that out loud was one of the hardest parts of my career. My body seemed to make this decision before my mind accepted it but I now truly know this is the right thing for me at the right time.”
Delle Donne was taken second overall in the 2013 WNBA Draft by the Chicago Sky and went on to be named Rookie of the Year after leading all first-year players in points per game, which was good for fourth on the overall list.
She established her greatness by becoming the first player to earn MVP honors with two different franchises, first with Chicago in 2015 and with Washington in 2019.
Delle Donne was traded to Washington ahead of the 2017 WNBA campaign and finished her career having averaged 19.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 10 seasons while being named an All-Star seven times.
In 2021, Delle Donne was named to the WNBA’s 25 greatest and most influential players in league history as part of the league’s 25th anniversary celebration.
“A champion and MVP on and off the court, her legacy as a player, leader, and ambassador will leave a permanent mark on the game, and on generations of young women, for years to come,” Ted Leonsis, CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Mystics, said in a press release.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)
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