Sue Bird has decided that she will be hanging her sneakers and will retire at the end of the 2022 season, per a tweet, she posted on Thursday afternoon.
Bird, a 12-time all-star, spent her entire WNBA career with the Seattle Storm, in which she accumulated just about every accolade possible. In 19 years, Bird has won four WNBA titles, earned eight all-WNBA selections, and is the all-time WNBA assist leader. She holds career averages of 11.9 points and 5.6 assists and is a career 85 percent free-throw shooter while shooting 43 percent from the field across her WNBA career.
Bird played here college hoops at the University of Connecticut under Geno Auriemma. Following a torn ACL just eight games into her college career, Bird came back and became one of the most accomplished women’s college basketball players ever; winning the Naismith College Player of the Year award, the Wade Trophy, the AP College Player of the Year, and the Big East Player of the Year award, and AP College Player of the Year on top of winning her second national title in 2002 as a senior.
She also won the Nancy Lieberman Trophy three years in a row.
Bird also had a stellar international career. She is a five-time EuroLeague champion, a two-time Europe Supercup winner, a five-time Russian league champion, and a five-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA.
With that list of accolades, Bird will retire as arguably one of the greatest WNBA players of all time and has opened up a new path for aspiring WNBA talents who looked up to Bird.
