Seattle is celebrating one of the best female basketball players to play for the city in the best way possible--naming a street after her.
On Monday, the city in Washington state held a ceremony outside Climate Pledge Arena to honor Sue Bird's lasting mark on Seattle basketball. At the event, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced that the city is renaming a section of a street in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood to "Sue Bird Court," ESPN reported.
Previously known as 2nd Ave. North, Sue Bird Court will be the section of the street leading to the arena's southeast end.
"We are cementing her legacy into the very fabric of Seattle and that's why this is more than symbolism," Harrell told the crowd, calling Bird the "epitome of excellence in women's basketball."
Among those in attendance were Bird's fiancé Megan Rapinoe and Seattle Storm owners Dawn Trudeau, Ginny Gilder, and Lisa Brummel.
"There might be a young girl who sees a street sign, or a poster, you name it, a mural, and they might dream of that. That's what makes it more special," the four-time WNBA champion said in a speech, according to ESPN.
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Bird joins other Seattle sports icons to be honored with street names. These include Seattle Mariners hitter Edgar Martinez and SuperSonics player-coach-executive Lenny Wilkens.
Sue Bird's decorated WNBA career
Bird has had a celebrated professional career that started when she was drafted first overall in 2002. She played 21 seasons in the WNBA and spent her entire career with the Storm, from 2002 until her retirement in 2022.
She won four WNBA championships ('04, '10, '18, '20), was a 13-time WNBA All-Star, a five-time All-WNBA First Team selection, a three-time Second Team Selection and was also the league assist leader in '05, '09 and '16.
She also won five Olympic Gold medals with Team USA, from 2004 in Athens, Greece, to 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.
Bird is the only WNBA player to win titles in three decades--2004, 2018, and 2020.
She played a total of 580 games and averaged 11.7 points, 5.6 assists, and 2.2 rebounds on 42.9% shooting.
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