Sue Bird just made a big announcement about her basketball career. The WNBA legend announced her retirement after her team, the Seattle Storm, was eliminated from the WNBA Playoffs on Tuesday. Bird and Storm were taking on the Las Vegas Aces in the semifinal series and lost in Game 4 97-92. She recorded eight points and eight assists in the final game of her WNBA career.
“I think initially I felt sad about the season and the game,” Bird said postgame, per Kevin Pelton of ESPN. “I then think, as the emotions started to come to the surface, that’s also what I know deep down in that, that was my last game. So it was a combination of those two things, but overall it just feels kind of weird.”
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When the game ended, Bird waved to the crowd as she received an extended ovation. She also gave hugs to all the members of the Aces and the coaching staff. “I didn’t really want to leave the court,” Bird said. “It felt like that’s where everybody was going, so I just followed at first. But I also wanted to kind of have one last moment to say thank you, to soak it all in, because in some ways it is a happy thing.
“I’m proud of everything we’ve accomplished here. Of course I’m sad, but there’s happiness too, to be able to have a moment like that with the fans, to have them chant the way they did. I know the tears don’t look like happy tears, but there’s a lot of happiness.”
Bird, 41, began her WNBA career in 2002 when she was selected by the Storm at No. 1 overall in the draft. She was named to the All-Star team her rookie year and led the Storm to a WNBA title in 2004. Bird would win three more championships with the Storm (2010, 2018, 2020) and would be named an All-Star a total of 13 times. She was also selected to the All-WNBA team eight times and would be named to four different WNBA Anniversary teams. Bird also had success on the international level, winning five gold medals with Team USA in five different Olympics. She also played for three different teams in Russia and won five Russian National League titles.
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