Suzanne Brigit Bird (born October 16, 1980) is an American former basketball player who played professionally for 20 years in the United States and Russia. She played her entire Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) career with the Seattle Storm. Bird was drafted with the first overall pick by the Storm in the 2002 WNBA draft and is considered one of the greatest players in WNBA history. As of 2025, Bird is the only WNBA player to win titles in three different decades. In 2025 she was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and in 2026 she was inducted into the NYC Basketball Hall of Fame and the FIBA Hall of Fame. In addition to her WNBA career, Bird played for 10 seasons in the Russian Premier League for Dynamo Moscow, Spartak Moscow Region and UMMC Ekaterinburg, winning 5 Premier League championships (2007, 2008, 2012–2014) and five EuroLeague Women championships (2007–2010, 2013).
In high school, Bird was the New York State Player of the Year, the New York Daily News Player of the Year, and a WBCA All-American. In her senior year on the undefeated University of Connecticut (UConn) team in 2002, she won the Wade Trophy and the Naismith Award as College Player of the Year. She finished her UConn career ranked first in three-point field goal percentage and free throw percentage, and second in assists and steals. She won the Nancy Lieberman Award three times as the top point guard in the nation. During her UConn career, Bird had a record of 114–4.
Bird has won a joint-record four WNBA championships with the Storm (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020), five Olympic gold medals (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020), two NCAA Championships with UConn (2000, 2002), and four FIBA World Cups (2002, 2010, 2014, 2018). She is one of only 11 women to attain all four accolades, and is one of only two basketball players—of any gender—to win five Olympic gold medals.
During Bird's WNBA career, she was selected to thirteen WNBA All-Star teams and eight All-WNBA teams. She was voted by fans as one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time in 2011, was voted into the WNBA Top 20@20 as one of the league's top 20 players of all time in 2016, and was voted into The W25 as one of the league's top 25 players of all time in 2021. Bird retired from professional basketball after the 2022 WNBA season.
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Early life
Bird was born on October 16, 1980, in Syosset, New York, on Long Island, to Herschel and Nancy Bird. Her father's ancestry is Russian-Jewish. She has an older sister named Jen. In the 1900s, Bird's paternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from what later became Ukraine. After arriving, their last name was changed from "Boorda" to "Bird".
Bird was interested in sports from an early age, partly influenced by her athletic older sister. In addition to basketball, she played soccer and tennis and ran track. Her fifth grade yearbook lists her potential future careers as a lawyer, doctor, and professional soccer player. Bird started playing Amateur Athletic Union basketball in the sixth grade, and soon after began receiving college recruiting letters. At the age of 11, she played during halftime at a St. John's University basketball game. Her play was so impressive that a security guard asked for her autograph.
High school career
Bird played her freshman and sophomore years at Syosset High School, but wanted more competition. She enrolled at Christ the King Regional High School in Queens, New York, where she played on the Lady Royals team for two seasons. During Bird's junior year, the team's record was 24–3. During her senior year the Royals went undefeated, winning the New York state championship and the national title. Bird won the New York State Player of the Year award and the New York Daily News Player of the Year award, and was named a WBCA All-American. She played in the WBCA High School All-America Game, scoring 11 points.
College career
Bird was recruited by several university teams, including those of Stanford, Vanderbilt and University of Connecticut (UConn). She leaned toward selecting the UConn Huskies, partly because the UConn campus was close to her home, but hesitated when two point guards announced their commitments to the team. After one of the point guards withdrew, Bird decided to accept UConn's offer. Eight games into her freshman season, Bird suffered a torn ACL. Since she had played more than 20% of the team's games in the 1998–1999 season, she was not able to redshirt. During her sophomore season (1999–2000), she returned to lead the team to a 36–1 record, the Big East Championship, and the 2000 NCAA Division I championship. In her junior season (2000–2001), the Huskies went 32–3. In her senior season (2001–2002), the Huskies went 39–0, with Bird winning the Wade Trophy, the Honda Sports Award and the Naismith Award as College Player of the Year. During her junior year, Bird played in a game against Notre Dame which sportswriter Jeff Goldberg referred to as "the best women's basketball game ever played". He memorialized the game in his book Bird at the Buzzer, whose title refers to Bird's game-winning shot at the buzzer.
As of 2024, Bird ranks No. 39 on the list of UConn players to score 1,000 career points, with 1,378 points. She is No. 7 in career assists with 585. She ranks number 1 in three-point field goal percentage (45.9) and free throw percentage (89.2). During her career with the Huskies, she won two NCAA National Championships and three Big East Championships. In 2000, Bird was the first winner of the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is given to the top Division I point guard in the nation; she won it again in 2001 and 2002. Her record at UConn in games she played is 114–4. Bird was a member of the 2006 inaugural class of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program.
Professional career
WNBA
The Seattle Storm selected Bird with the first overall pick of the 2002 WNBA draft. She would play alongside superstar Lauren Jackson who was also drafted first overall the year before. In her rookie season, Bird started all 32 games for the Storm and averaged 14.4 ppg. She was selected as a starter on the 2002 WNBA Western Conference All-Star team. Bird was the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year award and one of only two rookies to make the All-WNBA First Team. Both Bird and Jackson led the Storm to their first playoff appearance. During her first year in the league, Bird scored a career-high 33 points in a regular-season game against the Portland Fire. From 2002 (rookie season) to 2022 (retirement), she made a record 13 appearances playing in the Western Conference All-Star team.
In 2004, the Storm acquired shooting guard Betty Lennox in a dispersal draft, joining Bird and Lauren Jackson to form a dominant trio of star players that helped lead the Storm to its first WNBA Championship. With the WNBA Championship win, Bird became one of 11 women to receive an Olympic gold medal, an NCAA Championship, Fiba World Cup gold, and a WNBA Championship. The others are Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, Tamika Catchings, Brittney Griner and fellow Huskies Swin Cash, Kara Wolters, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, Breanna Stewart, and Asjha Jones.
En route to the Storm's second championship, Bird had one of the most clutch moments in WNBA Playoff history; during the Conference Finals against the championship-defending Phoenix Mercury with the Storm up 1–0 in the series, Bird hit a game-winning three-pointer with two seconds left in Game 2 to put the Storm up 91–88, after erasing a 19-point deficit to advance to the 2010 WNBA Finals. Also in Game 1 of the 2010 WNBA Finals, Bird hit a game-winning jump shot with 2 seconds left to put the Storm up 79–77 and would later sweep the series. In 2011, she was voted one of the WNBA's Top 15 Players of All Time by current players and coaches, the media, and fans on the WNBA website.
During the 2012 WNBA season, Bird experienced knee problems, yet she managed to play 29 games throughout the regular season and the playoffs. In the off-season, Bird had knee surgery, which would prevent her from playing the entire 2013 season.
Bird returned for the 2014 WNBA season. That year, she played 33 games, averaged 10.6 ppg and 4.0 apg, and was voted as a WNBA all-star. However, the Storm did not make it to the 2014 playoffs and would also fail to do so the following year.
Foreign leagues
Bird played in Russia for the Dynamo Moscow with Storm teammate Kamila Vodichkova during the 2004–05 and 2005–06 WNBA off-seasons. During the 2005–06 off-season, the Dynamo reached the Russian championship and the EuroLeague playoffs.
During the 2006–07 off-season, Bird joined Storm teammate Lauren Jackson and fellow UConn stars Diana Taurasi and Svetlana Abrosimova on the Russian team Sparta&K, winning both the Russian Super League and the EuroLeague championships. Bird played with the team during the next four WNBA off-seasons. From 2011 to 2014, Bird played during the off-season for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian League, winning three consecutive league championships.
To circumvent rules which limit European basketball teams to only two American players, Bird obtained Israeli citizenship.
National team career
Bird has competed with USA Basketball as a member of the 2000 Jones Cup Team in Taipei, Taiwan. She started all four games, leading the team with 17 assists and helping them to the gold medal.
In 2002, Bird was named to the national team which competed in the World Championships in Zhangjiagang, Changzhou, and Nanjing, China. The team was coached by Van Chancellor. Bird scored 4.3 points per game. The USA team won all nine games, including a close title game against Russia, which was a one-point game late in the game.
In the 2003–2004 off-season, Bird was named to the United States 2004 Women's Olympic Basketball Team's roster. The USA team went on to win the gold at the games in Athens, Greece.
In 2006, Bird was invited back to the National team for the World Championships held in Sao Paulo, Brazil in September 2006. With Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley retiring and Sheryl Swoopes sidelined by injuries, Bird, Candace Parker, and Diana Taurasi stepped into leading roles on the national team. The USA team won eight of the nine games they played but fell against Russia 75–68 in the medal round; they ended up with the bronze medal. Over the nine games, Bird hit 50% of her three-point attempts, tying her for accuracy leadership with Taurasi and Swoopes. She also led the team with 41 assists.
In the summer of 2008, Bird once again qualified for the Olympic basketball team, which won the 2008 gold medal in Beijing, China. Bird started all eight games and tied with teammate Tamika Catchings with 14 steals, both ranking seventh in the tournament's top 10 for steals.
Bird was invited to the USA Basketball Women's National Team training camp for the 2010 World Championship in the fall of 2009. Usually, players for the 2010 USA FIBA World Championship and the 2012 Olympics teams are selected from the National Team. Following the training camp, the team was scheduled to play in the 2009 UMMC Ekaterinburg International Invitational in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
On July 10, 2010, Bird competed with the National team in the WNBA-sponsored All-Star game, which pitted the USA National team against the "best-of-the-best" WNBA All-Stars. In non-Olympic seasons, the WNBA normally holds the annual All-Star game between top players in the Eastern and Western Conferences. University of Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma coached the National team in this game, training camp, and through 2012. Team USA won the exhibition game 99–72, with players like Bird, who subsequently qualified for the USA team competing in the FIBA World Championships in the Czech Republic, held in September and October 2010.
Personal life
Bird publicly came out as a lesbian on July 20, 2017, revealing that she had been dating soccer player Megan Rapinoe for several months after the two met at the 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2018, Bird and Rapinoe became the first same-sex couple on the cover of ESPN The Magazine's "Body Issue", and in June 2020 they co-hosted the ESPYs with quarterback Russell Wilson. They announced their engagement in October 2020. In 2022, Bird was included on the Queer 50 list. On April 17, 2026, Bird and Rapinoe announced they had separated after 10 years as a couple.
In 2022, Bird became a part-owner of the National Women's Soccer League franchise NJ/NY Gotham FC as a minority investor. She also assists in promoting the club and acts as an advisor to the league. In April 2024, she joined Force 10 Hoops, the ownership group of the Seattle Storm. In July of the same year, Mattel announced a Sue Bird Barbie as part of the 65th anniversary of the Barbie doll.
Career statistics
Awards and honors
WNBA
4× WNBA champion (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020)
13× WNBA All-Star (2002, 2003, 2005–2007, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022)
5× All-WNBA First Team (2002–2005, 2016)
3× All-WNBA Second Team (2008, 2010, 2011)
3× WNBA assists leader (2005, 2009, 2016)
2× WNBA turnovers leader (2002, 2003)
WNBA free throw percentage leader: (2002)
3× WNBA peak performer (2005, 2009, 2016)
WNBA 10th Anniversary Team (2006)
WNBA 15th Anniversary Team (2011)
WNBA 20th Anniversary Team (2016)
WNBA 25th Anniversary Team (2021)
Commissioner's Cup champion (2021)
No. 10 retired by Seattle Storm
Statue in front of Climate Pledge Arena — the first statue erected for a WNBA player.
NCAA
2× NCAA National Champion (2000, 2002)
3× Nancy Lieberman Award (2000, 2001, 2002)
2× First-team All-Big East (2001, 2002)