Storm Legend Sue Bird to Have Jersey Retired by UConn
Seattle Storm legend Sue Bird is getting close to ticking every box on the basketball immortality checklist.
Bird’s No. 10 jersey, which was already retired by the Storm in 2023, will also be retired by UConn on Sunday, Dec. 7, before the Huskies’ game against DePaul, the program announced.
It’s another addition to a long list of honors Bird has received since she retired from the WNBA in 2022. With her September induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Bird became eligible to have her number retired by UConn.
Bird played for UConn from 1998-02 and won a pair of national championships in 2000 and 2002. She totaled 1,378 points and 585 assists in her college career and holds the career records for 3-point percentage (45.9 percent) and free throw percentage (89.2).
Following her jersey retirement by the Storm, the franchise unveiled a statue of Bird outside Climate Pledge Arena on Aug. 17. Bird joined late SuperSonics Lenny Wilkens as the only two former Seattle athletes to have statues outside the arena.
A prolific player in college, internationally and in the WNBA, Bird led the Storm to four championships during her two-decade-long career in 2004, 2010, 2018 and 2020. She remains the WNBA’s all-time leader in assists (3,234), among other career milestones.
Bird also won five Olympic gold medals and was the 2021 USA Basketball Female Athlete of the Year.
Only two other players have had their jersey numbers retired by UConn, as Bird joins Rebecca Lobo (No. 50) and Swin Cash (No. 32). It’s hard to find an honor that Bird hasn’t received at age 45.
UConn faces DePaul at 1 p.m. on Sunday, and the jersey retirement ceremony will be held “approximately 30 minutes before tip-off,” per the school’s announcement. It will be streamed on the UConn women’s basketball X, Facebook and YouTube pages.
