Sue Bird On How She Wants to Be Remembered After Last WNBA Game

After a dominating 21 years in the WNBA, basketball star Sue Bird’s professional career came to a close Sept. 6.

The Seattle Storm lost to the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces 97-92 in Game 4 of the WNBA semifinals, marking the end of Bird’s storied career.

The five-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time WNBA champion choked back tears as fans in Seattle chanted “thank you, Sue” as she walked off the court.

Bird, 41, first announced her retirement from professional basketball in a social media post in June 2022.

In a recent interview with TODAY, Bird opened up about her final season and what it feels like to be moving on from the sport she helped usher into a new era.

“I feel really good about the decision, it’s just kind of taking it as it comes and enjoying the moments,” she said.

As the top draft pick in 2002, Bird made her way from the University of Connecticut in Storrs to Seattle where she has played the entirety of her career, save two seasons where she sat out due to injury.

Her exit from the game comes on the heels of a wave of support for women’s sports. In 2022, the WNBA finished with its most-watched regular season in 14 years, marking a 16% growth from 2021 alone.

With the league’s current television contract with ESPN coming up for discussion in 2025, Bird says she hopes negotiations for better pay, player accommodations and media coverage will all be on the table.

Bird said that negotiating a better deal can be the answer to a lot of the questions facing the league, including retaining young talent that have previously been forced to play abroad due to limited roster spots.

“If we can negotiate a big deal there, that can really change the landscape financially for (younger players). And then money kind of makes everything work,” she said.

While the popularity of the WNBA is rising, Bird also credited the generation of women who competed when all eyes weren’t on the game, including Minnesota Lynx standout Sylvia Fowles who also announced her retirement at the start of the season.

“Myself, Sylvia … this generation really kept the WNBA going with our play,” she said. “We kept the WNBA going when it wasn’t on TV a lot and when we weren’t getting the sponsorship money or the corporate dollars.”

Off the court, Bird is engaged to professional women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe. The couple met at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and began dating shortly after.

When asked if Rapinoe had shared any advice during her final season, Bird signaled it would really be the other way around.

“Maybe when she retires, I’ll be the one giving her advice,” she joked.

Rapinoe posted on Instagram following the Storm’s loss on Sept. 6, calling Bird “The Greatest to ever do it.”

“I am so proud of you,” she added with a red heart emoji.

As for what she had been listening to to get game-ready, Bird said fellow New Yorker Jay-Z still tops her queue.

“DJ Khaled just came out with his album, he’s got a little Jay-Z on there and I’m a big Jay-Z fan. You know, it’s always easy to go back to Drake or Kendrick (Lamar) too,” she said.

Bird also shared some insight into her eye-catching arena entrance outfits. She said professional stylist Courtney Mays has been the mastermind behind some of her most fashion-forward outfits.

“She’s been amazing and really makes it easy for me. I don’t have to think too much,” she said.

Bird is ending her career as one of the most decorated players in history. She’s walking away from the game as the league’s all-time assists leader and the only WNBA player to win a championship in three different decades.

As for how she hopes to be remembered, Bird says she hopes “winner” comes to mind.

“I always think about the Seattle Storm fans,” she said. “I just really hope that when the ball was in my hands, they all collectively exhaled because they knew the ball was in somebody’s hands that they could trust.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com