Watch out Caitlin Clark, Diana Taurasi is seriously going after rookies: this is how she bullied Nika Mühl

The WNBA‘s all-time top scorer is not messing around.

Diana Taurasi is a living legend, and one of the most successful women’s basketball players of all-time.

A three-time WNBA champion who is the league’s all-time leader in points scored, Taurasi is about to enter her 20th professional season — and she has not held back regarding this year’s hyped rookie class, headlined by Caitlin Clark.

Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury and Clark’s Indiana Fever will not meet until June 30, but Taurasi has wasted no time in putting rookies on notice — even one who attended her beloved University of Connecticut and played under the legendary Geno Auriemma.

Tough love from Taurasi

Taurasi has made clear her feelings that this rookie class, despite all the attention it has received, needs to toughen up and not assume life in the WNBA will be as easy as it was in the NCAA.

During the Mercury’s preseason opener against the Seattle Storm on Tuesday, Taurasi made it a point to hound Seattle guard Nika Muhl — the 14th overall pick in this year’s draft — all over the court.

At one point, Taurasi bulldozed Muhl in the lane and scored a layup through contact. The 41-year-old Taurasi stared at the 23-year-old Muhl, lying on the hardwood, to make sure she understood what had just happened.

Taurasi made no exception for Muhl, even though she played for UConn under Auriemma — the man who recruited Taurasi and watched her lead the Huskies to three consecutive NCAA championships between 2002 and 2004. The five-time gold medalist is living up to her word, and some rookies that Phoenix will face might deal with that behavior worse than others.

Muhl does not appear to be one of those who will hold a grudge against Taurasi. The two embraced following the preseason game — which Seattle won, 85-59 — and Muhl told Taurasi “you were pushing me all over the court.” Taurasi simply pinched the rookie’s cheeks in response.

HOT NEWS: 

UCONN’S GENO AURIEMMA EXPLAINS WHY HE DIDN’T RECRUIT CAITLIN CLARK
Just about every college basketball team would be ecstactic to have Caitlin Clark playing for them.

The Iowa Hawkeyes star is the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer, but predicting that when she was in high school would have been pretty bold.

Three other players were ranked higher than her in her high school class — Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink.

Head coach Geno Auriemma of the UConn Huskies speaks with Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes after the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome March 27, 2021, in San Antonio. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

Reese and Brink committed to Maryland and Stanford, respectively, and while Clark stayed home to play with the Hawkeyes, UConn landed Bueckers, the top player of the class.

UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said he didn’t recruit Clark, and he had his reasons.

“I committed to Paige Bueckers very, very early, and it would have been silly for me to say to Paige, ‘Hey listen, we’re going to put you in the backcourt, and then I’m going to try really hard to recruit Caitlin Clark.’ I don’t do it that way,” Auriemma said earlier this week, via CT Insider.

Hindsight is 20/20.

Bueckers missed a season with a torn ACL, while Clark’s resume speaks for itself. The two will face each other in the Final Four Friday night.

Despite Clark raving about UConn, saying it’s the “coolest place on earth,” Auriemma made it seem like Clark wasn’t seriously eyeing the Huskies.

Head coach Geno Auriemma of the UConn Huskies reacts during the first half against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Climate Pledge Arena on March 25, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. (Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

“Caitlin is obviously a tremendous player, a generational player. But if Caitlin really wanted to come to UConn, she would have called me and said, ‘Coach, I really want to come to UConn,’” he said.

“Neither of us lost out. She made the best decision for her, and it’s worked out great. We made the decision we thought we needed to make.

“There are a lot of great players we see coming through high school, thousands of them. You’re only going to recruit some. You’re not going to recruit all of them. Some people do recruit all of them, I don’t. I try to lock in on who fits us,” Auriemma added.

“We try to lock in on them early, and that’s what happened to us and Paige. We felt really, really comfortable with that, and we went with it. Those are decisions that are made every day, every year, by every coach.”

Caitlin Clark of the Iowa Hawkeyes cuts down the net after beating the LSU Tigers 94-87 in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament at MVP Arena April 1, 2024, in Albany, N.Y. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

The top-seeded Hawkeyes lost the national championship to LSU last year, but they got their revenge in the Elite Eight. UConn, meanwhile, is in its 23rd Final Four and its 15th in the last 16 tournaments and looking for its 13th national title.

The Huskies haven’t won since their fourpeat from 2013 to 2016.