Sue Bird

Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who played her entire career with the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). Bird was drafted first overall pick by the Storm in the 2002 WNBA draft and is considered one of the greatest players in WNBA history. As of 2024, Bird is the only WNBA player to win titles in three different decades. She also held a front office position for the NBA's Denver Nuggets as their Basketball Operations Associate. In 2025 Bird was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. She will be inducted into the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame on February 24, 2026 in New York City and the FIBA Hall of Fame on April 21 in Berlin, Germany.

In addition to her WNBA career, she played for three teams in the Russian league and holds dual citizenship with the United States and Israel.

In high school, Bird was the New York State Player of the Year, the New York Daily News Player of the Year, and a WBCA All-American. In her senior year on the undefeated University of Connecticut team in 2002, she won the Wade Trophy and the Naismith Award as College Player of the Year. She finished her University of Connecticut (UConn) career ranked first in three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage, and second in assists and steals. She won the Nancy Lieberman Award three times as the top point guard in the nation. Additionally, Bird led her UConn team to a record of 114–4.

Bird has won a joint-record four WNBA championships with the Storm (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020), a historic five Olympic gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020), two NCAA Championships with UConn (2000, 2002); and four FIBA World Cups (2002, 2010, 2014, 2018). She is one of only 11 women to attain all four accolades. She is also a five-time EuroLeague Women champion (2007–2010, 2013). During her WNBA career, she has been selected to thirteen WNBA All-Star teams and eight All-WNBA teams. Additionally, she was voted by fans as one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time in 2011, was voted into the WNBA Top 20@20 as one of the league's top 20 players of all time in 2016, and was voted into The W25 as one of the league's top 25 players of all time in 2021. Her fifth Olympic gold medal, at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, makes her one of only two Olympic basketball players—of either gender—ever to win five gold medals, with the other player being her US Olympic teammate Diana Taurasi.

Bird retired from playing professional basketball after the 2022 WNBA season.

Early life

Bird was born in Syosset, New York, on Long Island, to Herschel and Nancy Bird. She has an older sister named Jen. Her father's ancestry is Russian-Jewish. In the 1900s, Bird's paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from what later became Ukraine. Upon her grandfather's arrival at Ellis Island in New York, their original last name was switched from "Boorda" to "Bird".

To avoid European rules, which limit European basketball teams to having only two Americans at a time, Bird obtained Israeli citizenship, based on her Jewish father and paternal grandparents. But she always represented the United States, her birth country, in international competitions.

Bird was interested in sports from an early age, partly influenced by her athletic older sister. Besides basketball, she played soccer and tennis and ran track. Her fifth-grade yearbook lists her potential future careers as a lawyer, doctor, and professional soccer player. Bird started playing Amateur Athletic Union basketball in the sixth grade. At the age of 11, she played during halftime of a St. John's University basketball game. Her play was so impressive that a security guard asked for her autograph.

High school

Bird played her freshman and sophomore years at Syosset High School, but wanted more competition. Consequently, she enrolled at Christ the King Regional High School in Queens, New York. Bird spent two seasons at Christ the King, where she competed on their Lady Royals basketball team. The Royals record was 24–3 in her junior year. In the second season, her team finished undefeated and won the New York state championship, and the national title. Bird won many awards, including the New York State Player of the Year and the New York Daily News Player of the Year. She was named a WBCA All-American. She participated in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association High School All-America Game, scoring 11 points.

College career

Bird was recruited by several university teams, including UConn, Stanford, and Vanderbilt. She leaned toward selecting the UConn Huskies, but hesitated when two point guards announced their commitments to the team. After one of the point guards withdrew, Bird decided to accept UConn's offer. In addition, she favored UConn because it was close to her home and had increased playing opportunities. Eight games into her freshman season, Bird suffered a torn ACL. Since she had played more than 20% of the team's games in the 1998–1999 season, she was not able to redshirt. In her sophomore season (1999–2000), she returned to lead the team to a 36–1 record, the Big East Championship, and the championship at the 2000 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. In her junior season (2000–2001), the Huskies went 32–3, with the final loss coming against UConn's Big East rival Notre Dame in the Final Four. However, the Huskies went 39–0 in her senior season (2001–2002), and, subsequently, Bird won the Wade Trophy, Honda Sports Award and Naismith Award as College Player of the Year.

During her junior year, Bird played in a game against Notre Dame which sportswriter Jeff Goldberg referred to as "the best women's basketball game ever played". Goldberg memorialized the game in his book Bird at the Buzzer, describing how Bird took the eponymous shot at the buzzer to win the game.

She finished her UConn career on many of the record lists. As of 2005 she ranked No. 24 on the 1,000-point list with 1,378 points, No. 2 in assists with 585, and seventh with 243 steals. She ranked number 1 in three-point field goal percentage (45.9) and free throw percentage (89.2). She won two National Championships, three Big East Championships, and Big East regular season titles. Bird was the first winner of the Nancy Lieberman Award in 2000, given to the top point guard in the nation, and won it again in 2001 and 2002. Her record at UConn in games she played is 114–4. Bird was a member of the inaugural class (2006) of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program.

College statistics

Professional career

WNBA

The Seattle Storm selected Bird with the first overall pick of the 2002 WNBA draft. She would play alongside superstar Lauren Jackson who was also drafted first overall the year before. In her rookie season, Bird started all 32 games for the Storm and averaged 14.4 ppg. She was selected as a starter on the 2002 WNBA Western Conference All-Star team. Bird was the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year award and one of only two rookies to make the All-WNBA First Team. Both Bird and Jackson led the Storm to their first playoff appearance. During her first year in the league, Bird scored a career-high 33 points in a regular-season game against the Portland Fire. From 2002 (rookie season) to 2022 (retirement), she made a record 13 appearances playing in the Western Conference All-Star team.

In 2004, the Storm acquired shooting guard Betty Lennox in a dispersal draft, joining Bird and Lauren Jackson to form a dominant trio of star players that helped lead the Storm to its first WNBA Championship. With the WNBA Championship win, Bird became one of 11 women to receive an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, Fiba World Cup gold, and a WNBA Championship. The others are Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Tamika Catchings, Brittney Griner and fellow Huskies Swin Cash, Kara Wolters, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, and Asjha Jones.

En route to the Storm's second championship, Bird had one of the most clutch moments in WNBA Playoff history; during the Conference Finals against the championship-defending Phoenix Mercury with the Storm up 1–0 in the series, Bird hit a game-winning three-pointer with two seconds left in Game 2 to put the Storm up 91–88, after erasing a 19-point deficit to advance to the 2010 WNBA Finals. Also in Game 1 of the 2010 WNBA Finals, Bird hit a game-winning jump shot with 2 seconds left to put the Storm up 79–77 and would later sweep the series. In 2011, she was voted one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time by current players and coaches, the media, and fans on the WNBA website.

During the 2012 WNBA season, Bird experienced knee problems, yet she managed to play 29 games throughout the regular season and the playoffs. In the off-season, Bird had knee surgery, which would prevent her from playing the entire 2013 season.

Bird returned for the 2014 WNBA season. That year, she played 33 games, averaged 10.6 ppg and 4.0 apg, and was voted as a WNBA all-star. However, the Storm did not make it to the 2014 playoffs and would also fail to do so the following year.

On February 16, 2016, Bird re-signed with the Storm to a multi-year deal in free agency.