Sue Bird’s Former WNBA Teammates Chime in on Hall of Fame Induction

On Saturday night, Sue Bird was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, a remakrbale and well-deserved achievement that only bolsters a laundry list of accolades.

While Bird is well-known for a legendary collegiate career at UConn and a dominant run at the Olympic level, it’s hard to separate her from Seattle. A No. 1 overall draft pick by the Storm in 2002, the 13-time All-Star (a WNBA record) spent all of her 19 seasons and every single one of her WNBA-record 580 games in Seattle, leading the franchise to their only four WNBA championships.

A few former teammates had a chance to congratulate Bird on her induction during their postgame media availability on Saturday.

“Sue Bird is Seattle,” Storm head coach Noelle Quinn said. “Having the opportunity to play with Sue, and coach her for a little bit, I understand why she is great — because she put the work in.”

Quinn spent five seasons as Bird’s teammate, joining the Storm from 2013-2014 before returning for a second stint from 2016-2018. Following her retirement, Quinn joined Seattle’s staff as an assistant in 2019, rising the ranks and becoming the head coach by 2022, Bird’s final season in the WNBA.

The two overlapped for a pair of championships — as teammates in 2018 and with Quinn coaching in 2020, Bird’s final of four rings.

“To be in the Hall of Fame means you’re one of the greatest ever to do it, and she is certainly that,” Quinn continued. “Super appreciative of my time with her, and super amazing the things she’s doing now away from basketball, and being a conduit of the game. Shoutout to Sue for that.”

Quinn was not the only former teammate with praise for one of game’s greatest players of all-time.

“I think it was inevitable,” Seattle’s Ezi Magbegbor told the media.

“She just embodies leadership. She just embodies a champion,” long-time Storm forward Alysha Clark continued.

The 25-year-old Magbegbor may not have the longest body of history with the new Hall of Famer — her three years as Bird’s teammate pale in comparison to Clark’s nine — but she provided revealing insight on Bird’s impact on the locker room nonetheless.

“I think just her ability to impact a player, a person in the simplest of ways. Being able to look up to her too, kinda picking her brain a little bit. She kinda started out not always the loudest in the room, but she obviously grew into the leader that she was. And so I think being able to translate that into my game, obviously I’m not the loudest in the room, but just getting to know people on an individual level and leading in that way — it’s something I really took from Sue.”

Bird holds some of the most remarkable achievements in women’s basketball history. In the WNBA, she ranks eight all-time in scoring and still holds the all-time record for assists with 3,234. On the Olympic stage, she’s one of just two basketball players in the competition’s history to win five gold medals, joining Diana Taurasi (who collected her sixth in 2024).

When it comes to Seattle, Bird holds numerous franchise records, including points, assists, steals, and minutes played. Her #10 is one of two numbers retired by the Storm, joining another former teammate and Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer in Lauren Jackson.

“It was awesome being able to play with her for so long and learn from her, win alongside her” Clark divulged. “It’s more than deserving. This is exciting to see our greats being recognized and getting their flowers, and being able to celebrate that. She’s a legend of this game. To see that and know that we played alongside her is pretty amazing.”

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