Storm Unveil Historic Sue Bird Statue Outside Climate Pledge Arena
Sue Bird (10) brings the ball down the court in the Minnesota Lynx vs Seattle Storm game at Target Center, the Storm won the game 81-72. Credit: Lorie Shaull
A month and a half after the team announced Sue Bird would be immortalized outside Climate Pledge Arena, the Seattle Storm’s most legendary player’s day finally came on Sunday, Aug. 17. Outside the team’s home arena, Bird’s statue — the first for a WNBA player in the league’s history — was unveiled in front to fans and the prolific Storm player herself.
“This is incredible,” Bird said in a speech to the crowd, per The Seattle Times. “Yeah, I feel really lucky that I’ve been able to stand in front of you and share my memories and with the jersey retirement and big games and Finals games. This does feel different.”
The statue was hidden behind a Nike-sponsored curtain, falling to reveal a pose of Bird as she charged into the lane and entered a layup motion. That pose, which she was able to choose, was a special one for Bird, she said. Most might remember the 19-season WNBA veteran (21 total years in the league) as a playmaker, and you would be correct — she leads the league in all-time assists by a landslide with 3,234.
But it was about two specific moments for Bird, and how her statue could live in harmony with Seattle SuperSonics legend Lenny Wilkens, the only other statue outside of Climate Pledge Arena.
“I was thinking pull-up jump shot, you know, passing. What do I want?” Bird explained. “But some fun little fact about my career that maybe some of you know, maybe not — my very first points in the WNBA at KeyArena as a rookie, were on a layup. My very final points in the WNBA were at Climate Pledge on a layup.
“It’s actually something that means a lot to me. So this feels very full-circle. Plus, I knew Lenny was going to be playmaking off the dribble. We needed someone to, you know, give that assist. Someone had to finish it off. Congratulations to Lenny.”
Throughout her speech, Bird reflected on her illustrious career with the Storm, where she piled up 13 WNBA All-Star nods, five First Team All-Pro honors and led the team to all four of its WNBA championship wins from 2004-20. Her assist record remains 347 ahead of the next closest player (Courtney Vandersloot), and will take a long time — if ever — to be broken.
Vandersloot is in her 15th season at 36 years old and is out for the rest of the 2025 season after suffering a torn ACL. She would likely have to play at least two more seasons to get close to Bird’s figure.
“Twenty-three years ago, I stepped off a plane in Seattle as a 21-year-old kid from New York, fresh out of college, wondering what my life was going to be like,” Bird said. “The WNBA had just finished its fifth season, the Storm just its second, and the Pacific Northwest couldn’t have been further from all that I knew. Today, I’m standing here looking at a statue of myself, and honestly, that 21-year-old would never believe this moment was possible, or that Seattle would become everything she didn’t know she needed.”
Bird also touched on how historic a precedent her statue is setting in the ever-growing sport of professional women’s basketball.
“People keep asking me what it feels like to be the first, and the truth is, I never set out to be the first at anything,” Bird added. “But if being the first means that I won’t be the last, if this statue means that 20 years from now, there’ll be statues of other WNBA greats — some are in this audience — and players whose names we don’t even know yet, then I’m proud to be the first.”
The statue unveiling preceded the Storm’s home game against the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday, which tips off at 3 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle is looking for its second straight win for the first time since July 6.
