Bird flies away from basketball on the chants of the crowd in her final game Tuesday night

In the span of five days, two female greats have retired from their respective sports. On Friday, it was Serena Williams following her loss at the U.S. Open. On Tuesday night, Sue Bird completed her WNBA career following the Seattle Storm’s loss to the Las Vegas Aces.

And, just like that, her 20-year career comes to a close, but not without leaving behind a gaping hole and legacy unlikely to be matched.

“It’s sad,” she said in an interview with ESPN after the game. “Obviously, so thankful for 20 years here. I’m going to miss it so much. I’m not going anywhere. But I’m going to miss it.”

Bird was the number one draft pick in 2002 and was picked up by the Storm where she spent her entire career. Following the game on Tuesday, the crowd could be heard chanting, “Thank you, Sue!” In her storied career, she won four championships and was selected to the WNBA All-Star First Team five times from her 12 All-Star game appearances.

Bird won two collegiate titles with the University of Connecticut followed by four World Cup wins and multiple title wins in Russia’s professional league and the EuroLeague. Not only did Bird represent Seattle for 20 years, but she also represented the United States in five Olympics in her career winning a record-tying five basketball Olympic golds.

It wasn’t only on the court that Bird grew. She hasn’t always been the tallest basketball player at 5′9″, so she had to work around that obstacle. She was fast, but not the fastest on the court so she had to improvise. She found a way to improve her game, and in the last five years, she has worked toward improving the popularity of the WNBA that she felt had suffered due to homophobia and racism.

In 2017, Bird came out as gay in the public eye and is now engaged to U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team star Megan Rapinoe. It was her fiancée who helped her join in the fight for acceptance amongst her teammates and competitors who were experiencing the same kind of persecution she and Rapinoe were. She joined her teammates in their practice of protest in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.

The evolution of Bird over the last 20 years on the court and in the public eye has been inspiring and the next phase should be more of the same as Bird grows away from the game just as Serena Williams plans to do.

While she won’t say goodbye to the sport in its entirety, Bird plans to find a new role surrounding it. While she will miss playing, she is looking forward to her retirement which she announced in June.

“Not a lot of people do something for their entire lives the way that athletes do,” she pointed out. Bird is excited, sharing, “I get to start this new life.” And for her, that new life begins with no longer having to set an alarm for early morning workouts; something she will not miss in the least.