SEATTLE — Lauren Jackson, on the shortlist of the greatest women’s basketball players in history, limped reluctantly into retirement six years ago. Her heart and mind were still willing, but her chronically ailing knees simply would not allow Jackson to play the game she had dominated for so long in Australia, Seattle and around the world.
As her longtime teammate and great friend, Sue Bird, said while choking back tears at the 2016 ceremony at KeyArena to retire Jackson’s No. 15 Storm jersey:
“How things had to end hurts me. I know it hurts you.”
