Elena Delle Donne Announces Retirement; Won 2019 WNBA Title, 2 MVP Awards

Elena Delle Donne's stellar WNBA career has come to an end after 10 seasons.

The seven-time All-Star announced her retirement in a post on Instagram.

Delle Donne has been a star since 2008 when she was the top-ranked college recruit in the country. She originally committed to play for Geno Auriemma at Connecticut but withdrew from the school shortly after enrolling in summer classes due to what she said were "a lot of personal issues to fix."

The Delaware native wound up attending the University of Delaware in the fall of 2008 and joined the volleyball team as a walk-on player during her freshman year, but she didn't join the basketball team until the 2009-10 season.

Delle Donne went on to become the best basketball player in Delaware history during her four years with the program. She is the Blue Hens' all-time leader in total points (3,039), points per game (26.7), field goals (1,030), three-point field goals (206) and blocks per game (2.4).

After her college career ended, Delle Donne was the No. 2 pick in the 2013 WNBA draft by the Chicago Sky. She spent her first four seasons with the Sky, winning MVP in 2015 and making the All-Star team three times.

Delle Donne was traded to the Washington Mystics prior to the 2017 season. She won her second MVP award and led the Mystics to the WNBA title in 2019, defeating the Connecticut Sun in the Finals.

The 2019 campaign saw Delle Donne become the first player to have a 50-40-90 season in WNBA history (51.5/43.0/97.4).

The 2023 season turned out to be Delle Donne's final year in the WNBA. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported in February 2024 that Delle Donne was not going to sign her supermax contract with the Mystics because she wanted to take time away from basketball.

Delle Donne averaged 19.5 points on 47.5 percent shooting (39.2 percent from three) and 6.7 rebounds in 241 career WNBA games. She also won a gold medal with Team USA at the 2016 Olympics.