Springfield, Massachusetts – On Saturday September 6, 2025, Sue Bird was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame alongside former WNBA players Maya Moore and Sylvia Fowles, marking the first time three WNBA players have been inducted into the same class.
Other inductees included NBA players Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, Coach Billy Donovan, official Danny Crawford, the 2008 USA Basketball Men’s National Team, and business executive Micky Arison.
Sue Bird played her entire WNBA career with the Seattle Storm. The 44-year-old New Jersey native earned multiple accolades in her 21 seasons in Seattle including: five Olympic gold medals, four WNBA championships, 13 All-Star game appearances and two NCAA national championships with the University of Connecticut.
Sylvia Fowles played for the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx, winning the WNBA MVP Award in 2017 and the Defensive Player of the Year Award four times. She and Bird earned gold medals at the 2008, 2012, and 2020 Olympics.
Maya Moore and Sue Bird also played together on the U.S. Women’s National Basketball Team at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and both won gold medals. They also teamed up for gold medals at the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Cups, giving them four combined Olympic and World Championship gold medals. Although they weren’t WNBA teammates, they are both University of Connecticut alumni.
Bird’s No. 10 Seattle Storm jersey was retired by the Storm in 2023 and hangs in the rafters of Climate Pledge Arena next to another Storm great, Lauren Jackson.
Seattle officially declared August 17th as “Sue Bird Day” at the recent unveiling of her bronze statue on the west plaza of Climate Pledge Arena. Bird joins NBA legends Dirk Nowitzki and the late Kobe Bryant as one of the few athletes to spend over two decades with one team and receive a bronze statue. The statue, next to former Seattle Sonics player and coach Lenny Wilkens is the first for an WNBA player.
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*Cover photo & HOF photo courtesy of the WNBA
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