Sue Bird Earns Hall of Fame Nod With Star-Studded Résumé

The WNBA's all-time assist leader will be enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September.

Sue Bird / Brian Babineau/Getty Images

With a résumé like Sue Bird’s, it’s hard to find much more that could be added. The five-time Olympic gold medalist and four-time WNBA champion is a winner at her core; now her career is set to immortalize at the root of the sports’ inception, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

On April 5, Bird was announced as an inductee of the Hall of Fame following a nearly two-decade-long tenure in the WNBA where she garnered 13 WNBA All-Star appearances, set the all-time assists record (3234) and serves as the only WNBA player to win three titles in three different decades.

The crafty 5-foot-9 point guard was drafted No. 1 overall in 2002, and joined the league with two NCAA National Championships under her belt (2000, 2002) at the University of Connecticut, where she led her ‘02 squad to an undefeated 39-0 season.

The Huskies’ legacy has continued to remain steadfast throughout her career and beyond. During Bird’s enshrinement in September, she’ll stand alongside fellow Connecticut alumni, Maya Moore, who also joins the 2025 Hall of Fame class.

“Surreal,” Bird told ESPN in Tampa, Florida following the announcement. “I don’t think there’s any way to really wrap your head around it ... How lucky am I that I got to experience all of these things, the people I got to do it with (and) all the support.”

Sue Bird was photographed by Laretta Houston in St. Thomas/U.S. Virgin Islands / Laretta Houston/Sports Illustrated

Serendipitously, the winning ways followed Bird all the way to Tampa, as her alma mater took home their 12th NCAA National title on Sunday in dominant fashion, with an 82-59 win vs. South Carolina. She witnessed the victory firsthand alongside former college and USA Basketball teammate, Diana Taurasi, while hosting their ESPN alternate broadcast, The Bird and Taurasi Show.

The Huskies aren’t just dominant on the hardwood, they also shine in front of the camera. Bird, a two-time SI Swimsuit model, made her debut during the same year of her WNBA retirement in 2022. In her first issue, she joined fellow Uconn alum, Breanna Stewart. Nneka Ogwumike also joined the group of ballers during the 2022 shoot, and recently re-signed with Bird’s former club, the Seattle Storm, in February.

Sue Bird was photographed by Yu Tsai in Legends - Hollywood-FL. Suit by: ALICE + OLIVIA. Shoes by: Nike. Jewelry by: Charlie Lapson. / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

Bird also appeared in the 60th Anniversary Legends Edition in 2024, where she was joined by her fiancé and fellow Olympic Gold Medalist, Megan Rapinoe. A fellow two-time SI Swim model, Rapinoe broke boundaries as the first openly gay person to pose for SI Swim, and also earned Sportsperson of the Year in 2019. The couple continues to empower women in girls in sports through advocacy work and share a podcast together titled, A Touch More.