Exclusive conversation with Sue Bird as Storm unveils statue in WNBA legend’s honor

Sue Bird is the best to ever do it.

She’s had two decades in the WNBA with the Seattle Storm, four championships, five Olympic Gold Medals. Her success and longevity is only matched by humility and inspiration.

Ahead of Sue Bird’s historic statue unveiling outside Climate Pledge Arena Sunday, the first statue ever dedicated by a WNBA team, KOMO News Sports Director Niko Tamurian sat down for a one-on-one interview.

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One where Sue shed light on some of the best advice she could give, two words that helped propel a storybook career:

“Be yourself.”

There’s really nothing better than being in your own skin, being authentically yourself and that’s really where you get to find out who you are,” said Sue on Saturday.

She added that even that advice took a while to truly understand. She recounted being 22 years old and just starting out with the Storm, collaborating on a children’s book with that same title and loving the message.

But looking back now more than 20 years later, she’s realized she was still figuring that out.

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But, over time and across a record-setting career, she did that and then some. Sue credits Seattle with helping her come of age and grow up, if you will.

Of course, any Seattle basketball fan will tell you, the championship pleasure was all ours.

“Never would have even thought this was a possibility when I got here in 2002. I knew we had a good team, it was me and Lauren, and we were building something,” said Sue.

Four championships, playoff appearances in 19 of the 25 seasons in Storm history so far. A consistency and standard set by Sue came just a couple of years after the franchise’s inception.

A string of success that has made Sue known around the world as “The GOAT,” her industry standard has so many in Seattle proud that she still spends so much time here even after a two-decade-long career.

Sue recounts the great Jamal Crawford saying she’s “from here,” even if she was born and raised on Long Island, New York.

Because she’s made such an indelible mark in our community, it’s impossible to say otherwise.

“My relationship with the city, I’ve talked about it a ton. Just the connection, the way they support women’s sports. The way they support all sports, this is by far, I’ve traveled the world, this is by far, if not the best one of the best sports, in just the way everyone is embraced.”

SEE THE STATUE | Forever Sue: Photos from Sue Bird statue unveiling at Climate Pledge Arena

The accolades alone were enough for that.

But that’s not even close to telling the story of the greatest of all time, Sue Bird.

Because her work off the court is just as important. It helped change the game, quite literally, to where the WNBA is growing at an incredible pace.

“So much of what I’ve been able to do personally, individually, as a team with the Storm as a franchise, there are a lot of different ways that we’ve changed culture. Which is a huge statement in a lot of ways, but it’s really true,” said Sue.

“I think we’ve changed it from a pure sport standpoint. The way we played, the way we won, year after year, we were always competitive. I think we’ve changed it, like you said, in who we’ve inspired, who may be 5 years old and wants to play in the WNBA. That’s a big part of my story, not having a WNBA to dream about. So we’ve touched culture in all these different ways,” continued Sue.

That changing of the culture is happened quickly, but has the impact to last a lifetime. And that, arguably more than any basket, win, or even championship, has such a lasting effect

“I feel really lucky. Look this statue is in another category, a category of its own,” said Sue. “But I feel like a lot of my career and a lot of people in my generation, we’ve been able to inspire younger generations. Whether it’s a young girl who walks by that statue and is inspired by it, maybe wants to be that person one day. Or, a young boy who sees women in these positions. Sees a women as a professional athlete who had a career in a city, won championships, and now has a statue. So he can see that’s possible for young girls and for women. For both, I feel really lucky that’s what the statue also represents.”

In retirement, Sue is exploring new ventures, including the podcast space. Sue hosts two shows. One is called “A Touch More,” with her fiancée and soccer star Megan Rapinoe

Sue also hosts, “Bird’s Eye View,” which is almost exclusively a look at the happenings of the WNBA.

These endeavors are a tremendous way Sue can connect with her fans. The sort of thing that, because of everything she accomplished on and off the court, means so much to sports fans.

So, as the statue of Sue is unveiled, it celebrates a legend of Seattle sports. Sue and her generation of stars helped pave the way for game-changers of their own era, like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese.

She’s humbled, thrilled, and satisfied by the honor of a statue.

An honor that’s a celebration of the work and love spent in Seattle.

“These are things that can’t be argued. We won championships, we changed culture, we pushed a lot of negative narratives to the side and pushed a lot of positive agendas forward,” said Sue. “And these are things that are real, these are things that you can’t take away. You can’t rewrite history; the statue that will be there forever.”

Indeed it will. Sue’s legacy didn’t need a monument to live on, but it’s deserved in every way.