Sue Bird #10 of the Seattle Storm poses with Megan Rapinoe after defeating the Las Vegas Aces 92-59 to win the WNBA Championship following Game 3 of the WNBA Finals at Feld Entertainment Center on October 06, 2020 in Palmetto, Florida. Julio Aguilar/Getty Images/AFP
Sue Bird is putting off retirement for at least one more year to return to the Seattle Storm next season.
Bird, 41, announced her decision in an Instagram post on Friday, much to the delight of the Storm. The team’s official Twitter site posted a picture of the four-time WNBA champion along with a pair of goats (as in “Greatest Of All Time”), accompanied by the words “Bird is Back.”
Bird openly contemplated retirement after the Storm were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs last season.
“This is the first time where I’m really going to have to sit back, see how I feel, weigh some things,” Bird said at the time. “I know for sure that I want to let the emotion of the season die down. I don’t want to make some emotional decision.”
Per Yahoo Sports, Bird is an unrestricted free agent and cannot start contract talks with the Storm until the period officially opens on Jan. 15.
A 12-time WNBA All-Star, Bird was the No. 1 pick in the 2002 WNBA Draft after winning two NCAA titles at UConn. She missed the 2013 and 2019 seasons with knee issues.
She is the longest-tenured player in the WNBA and leads the league in career assists (3,048) and games played (549). She is the Storm’s franchise leader in points (6,561) and steals (687).
Bird averaged 10.0 points, 5.3 assists and 2.6 rebounds last season. She has career averages of 12.0 points and 5.6 assists per game.