Tina Charles entered Wednesday needing just 10 points to move into second place on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list.
The Atlanta Dream star accomplished that goal, notching 12 points and 17 rebounds in her team’s 72-63 win over the Phoenix Mercury.
Charles’ record-breaking bucket came early in the fourth quarter. She was standing at the 3-point line when her teammates corraled an offensive rebound and kicked it out to her.
The 35-year-old nailed the wide-open shot.
A look at the three-pointer that moved Tina Charles into 2nd all-time in scoring 🙌#WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/Qapr9qLEoE
— WNBA (@WNBA) August 22, 2024
Fittingly, Charles’ bucket came against Phoenix. The Mercury are led by Diana Taurasi, a 20-year WNBA veteran who is, far and away, the league’s all-time leading scorer. She was Charles’ college teammate at UConn and the duo briefly reunited in Phoenix during the 2022 season.
The two shared a warm embrace after a timeout was called to honor Charles’ achievement.
HISTORY.
Tina Charles has moved up to No. 2 on the WNBA all-time scoring list, passing Tina Thompson.
Charles and Diana Taurasi embrace after a timeout is called to honor Charles. pic.twitter.com/dUhsXcmsd6
— Malik Brown (@_MalikATL) August 22, 2024
Charles was also swarmed by her Dream teammates and received a raucous ovation from the crowd on hand in College Park.
That left her feeling “a whole bunch of gratitude” about her achievement after she spent the 2023 season out of the league.
“I thought I was done playing last year,” Charles said, per ESPN. “So for me to be here right now is just really special.”
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WNBA all-time scoring leaders
Second place is almost certainly the highest honor Charles can earn on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list.
Taurasi is more than 3,000 points ahead of Charles and remains the only player in the W’s history to score more than 10,000 points. The 20-year veteran has 10,500 points on the nose as of Thursday, Aug. 22.
The Connecticut Sun’s DeWanna Bonner, 37, is within striking distance of Charles, sitting just 164 points off her pace at No. 5 overall. The New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart is the youngest player among the top 25 scorers, as the 29-year-old has racked up 5,158 points so far during her WNBA career.
Below is a look at the WNBA’s top scorers of all time as of Thursday, Aug. 22, with active players listed in bold.
| Rank | Player | Points |
| 1 | Diana Taurasi | 10,500 |
| 2 | Tina Charles | 7,491 |
| 3 | Tina Thompson* | 7,488 |
| 4 | Tamika Catchings* | 7,380 |
| 5 | DeWanna Bonner | 7,327 |
| 6 | Candice Dupree | 6,895 |
| 7 | Cappie Pondexter | 6,811 |
| 8 | Sue Bird | 6,803 |
| 9 | Candace Parker | 6,574 |
| 10 | Katie Smith* | 6,452 |
| 11 | Sylvia Fowles | 6,415 |
| 12 | Nneka Ogwumike | 6,320 |
| 13 | Lisa Leslie* | 6,263 |
| 14 | Seimone Augustus* | 6,005 |
| Lauren Jackson* | 6,005 | |
| 16 | Becky Hammon* | 5,841 |
| 17 | Angel McCoughtry | 5,797 |
| 18 | DeLisha Milton-Jones | 5,571 |
| 19 | Katie Douglas | 5,560 |
| 20 | Lindsay Whalen* | 5,523 |
| 21 | Brittney Griner | 5,382 |
| 22 | Jewell Loyd | 5,375 |
| 23 | Breanna Stewart | 5,158 |
| 24 | Swin Cash* | 5,119 |
| 25 | Tangela Smith | 5,046 |
* Denotes a Basketball Hall of Famer.
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WNBA scoring leaders 2024
Two of the WNBA’s all-time scoring leaders — Stewart and Loyd — are among the WNBA’s most prolific scorers of the 2024 season. They rank within the top six in total points scored, while Bonner checks in at 13th and Nneka Ogwumike at 16th.
| Rank | Player | Team | Points |
| 1 | A’ja Wilson | Aces | 726 |
| 2 | Kahleah Copper | Mercury | 670 |
| 3 | Arike Ogunbowale | Wings | 572 |
| 4 | Jewell Loyd | Storm | 568 |
| 5 | Sabrina Ionescu | Liberty | 537 |
| 6 | Breanna Stewart | Liberty | 516 |
| 7 | Dearica Hamby | Sparks | 504 |
| 8 | Caitlin Clark | Fever | 497 |
| 9 | Kelsey Mitchell | Fever | 495 |
| 10 | Kelsey Plum | Aces | 492 |
| 11 | Napheesa Collier | Lynx | 470 |
| 12 | Jackie Young | Aces | 465 |
| 13 | DeWanna Bonner | Sun | 446 |
| 14 | Ariel Atkins | Mystics | 443 |
| Kayla McBride | Lynx | 443 | |
| 16 | Chennedy Carter | Sky | 437 |
| Nneka Ogwumike | Storm | 437 | |
| 18 | Jonquel Jones | Liberty | 425 |
| 19 | Allisha Gray | Dream | 423 |
| 20 | Aliyah Boston | Fever | 393 |
The overall list doesn’t change much when looking at points per game instead of total points, but Taurasi cracks the top 20 on the per-game list for 2024, averaging 15.7 points across 25 games. Her teammate Brittney Griner also makes a big jump, as Griner has played in just 19 games as of this writing.
| Rank | Player | Team | Points |
| 1 | A’ja Wilson | Aces | 26.9 |
| 2 | Kahleah Copper | Mercury | 23.1 |
| 3 | Arike Ogunbowale | Wings | 22.0 |
| 4 | Napheesa Collier | Lynx | 20.4 |
| 5 | Jewell Loyd | Storm | 20.3 |
| 6 | Sabrina Ionescu | Liberty | 19.9 |
| 7 | Breanna Stewart | Liberty | 19.8 |
| 8 | Kelsey Plum | Aces | 18.2 |
| 9 | Brittney Griner | Mercury | 18.1 |
| 10 | Dearica Hamby | Sparks | 18.0 |
| 11 | Jackie Young | Aces | 17.9 |
| 12 | Caitlin Clark | Fever | 17.8 |
| 13 | Kelsey Mitchell | Fever | 17.7 |
| 14 | Nneka Ogwumike | Storm | 17.5 |
| 15 | Chennedy Carter | Sky | 16.8 |
| 16 | DeWanna Bonner | Sun | 16.5 |
| 17 | Rhyne Howard | Dream | 16.3 |
| 18 | Ariel Atkins | Mystics | 15.8 |
| Kayla McBride | Lynx | 15.8 | |
| 20 | Diana Taurasi | Mercury | 15.7 |
Wilson seems likely to lead the WNBA in scoring for the 2024 season, but she won’t quite crack 5,000 career points yet. She will have a shot to do so during the 2025 campaign — provided that she can stay healthy.
