Robert Beck/Sports Illustrated
SUE BIRD
Just try fitting her accomplishments into a tight space. Bird, at 42, has won four WNBA championships, two NCAA championships and titles in both the EuroLeague and the Russian Superleague. She is the WNBA’s all-time leader in assists (3,048), starts (549) and games played (580; no one else in league history has seen more than 500). There’s much more, but, you know: tight space. Last season she led one final playoff run—the 15th of her storied career—while capturing the attention of a city long starved for big-time basketball. Bird’s GOAT-ness is best summarized by something one of her coaches, Dan Hughes, said before her final Storm home game. When someone says “point guard,” Hughes noted that he thinks first of Sue Bird. She’s that elite. “Like quarterback/Tom Brady.” —Greg Bishop
