Sue Bird

College career

Bird was recruited by several universities, including Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Connecticut, and chose UConn partly because it was close to home. Eight games into her freshman season, she tore an ACL and could not redshirt because she had played more than 20% of the games. As a sophomore in 1999–2000, she returned to lead the Huskies to a 36–1 record, the Big East Championship, and the NCAA title. Her junior season saw a 32–3 record, and in her senior year the team went 39–0, winning another national championship.

That season Bird earned the Wade Trophy, the Honda Sports Award, and the Naismith Award as College Player of the Year. During her junior year, she hit a game-winning buzzer shot against Notre Dame in a game sportswriter Jeff Goldberg called the best women's basketball game ever played.

Bird finished her UConn career ranked first in three-point field goal percentage (45.9) and free throw percentage (89.2), and second in assists and steals. She won the Nancy Lieberman Award three times as the nation's top point guard. Her record in games she played at UConn was 114–4.

Professional career

The Seattle Storm selected Bird with the first overall pick of the 2002 WNBA draft, pairing her with 2001 top pick Lauren Jackson. In her rookie season, Bird started all 32 games, averaged 14.4 points per game, and was named a starter on the Western Conference All-Star team. She finished as runner-up for Rookie of the Year and made the All-WNBA First Team. In 2004, the Storm acquired Betty Lennox, forming a trio that led the team to its first WNBA championship.

Bird became one of 11 women to win an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA championship, a FIBA World Cup gold, and a WNBA championship. During the 2010 playoffs, she hit a game-winning three-pointer with two seconds left in Game 2 of the Conference Finals after the Storm erased a 19-point deficit, then hit a game-winning jump shot with two seconds left in Game 1 of the Finals. In 2011, she was voted one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time. During the 2012 season, Bird played through knee problems, appearing in 29 games, and underwent knee surgery in the offseason that caused her to miss the entire 2013 season.

She returned in 2014, playing 33 games and averaging 10.6 points and 4.0 assists per game, but the Storm missed the playoffs that year and the next.

National team career

Bird first competed with USA Basketball at the 2000 Jones Cup in Taipei, Taiwan, where she started all four games and led the team with 17 assists, helping win the gold medal. In 2002, she was named to the national team for the World Championships in China; the team won all nine games, including a close title game against Russia. She was selected for the 2004 Olympic team and won gold in Athens. At the 2006 World Championships in Brazil, Bird, Candace Parker, and Diana Taurasi took on leading roles after retirements and injuries; the team won eight of nine games but lost to Russia in the medal round, earning bronze.

Bird hit 50% of her three-point attempts and led the team with 41 assists. She qualified for the 2008 Olympic team and won gold in Beijing, starting all eight games and tying for seventh in tournament steals with 14. Bird was invited to the training camp for the 2010 World Championship in fall 2009, from which players for the 2010 FIBA World Championship and 2012 Olympics were typically selected. The team then played in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational in Russia.

Awards and honors

Bird won four WNBA championships (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020) and was selected to 13 WNBA All-Star teams. She earned five All-WNBA First Team selections and three All-WNBA Second Team honors. She led the league in assists three times and in turnovers twice, and led in free throw percentage in 2002.

She won the Commissioner's Cup in 2021. Her number 10 is retired by the Seattle Storm, and a statue of her stands in front of Climate Pledge Arena, the first statue erected for a WNBA player. Her number 10 is retired by UConn.

With USA Basketball, she won five Olympic gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) and four FIBA World Cup gold medals (2002, 2010, 2014, 2018), plus a bronze in 2006. She was named USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year in 2021. Internationally, she won five Russian Premier League championships and five EuroLeague Women championships.

Did You Know?

• Her last name was originally 'Boorda' before her paternal grandparents changed it to 'Bird' after immigrating from what later became Ukraine.
• At age 11, Bird played during halftime at a St. John's University basketball game, and a security guard asked for her autograph.