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Sue Bird is a WNBA legend, winning four championships, making 12 All-Star teams, and is the all-time leader in assists, but not many know about her short career as an NBA executive.
Coming off a championship in 2018 with the Seattle Storm, Bird received an unexpected offer from an NBA franchise: The Denver Nuggets. Bird joined the Nuggets’ front office as their Basketball Operations Associate, sparking a newfound passion toward the end of her legendary NBA career.
Bird took this position while being an active player in the WNBA, joining rare company as a player and executive. In a recent appearance on “The Young Man and The Three” podcast, Bird talked about how she wound up as the Basketball Operations Associate for the Nuggets in the middle of her WNBA playing career.
“I had just finished the 2018 season, we had won, so you’re just on TV more, you’re around more,” Bird said. “Fast forward a month, maybe less, I get a text from Caron Butler. I went to Connecticut with Caron. ‘Hey, my guy Tim Connelly, he’s the president of the Denver Nuggets, he was wondering if he could talk to you.”
Bird ultimately leaned into the Connelly’s interest by touring the facility and meeting everyone around the organization, before they ultimately “let [her] choose” what role she wanted to take on with the franchise.
“I chose the front office because I don’t know the inner workings of a coaching staff. But as a player, I kind of understood what that life was,” Bird continued. “So while I probably could have learned a lot more X’s and O’s from Mike Malone, I didn’t know anything about front office work. And I actually don’t know in the moment that I ever wanted to go into coaching, I still don’t know that.”
Bird shares some more in-depth experience, saying how bizarre the trade deadline was, saying it was “fascinating” to experience the behind-the-scenes stuff.
“I have a special place for Denver because of my experience there,” Bird finished.
It is certainly a rare experience for an active player to be able to cross over to their brother league and get a position in a team’s front office, but Bird made the most of her unique time in Denver.
