By Percy Allen
The Seattle Times
What appears to be the final — and arguably most important — offseason domino fell for the Storm when the team announced the signing of four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird on Monday.
“Seattle and the Storm franchise have been home for my entire career,” Bird said in a statement released by the team. “This is a special team and I’m looking forward to getting back on the court with them as well as representing this great city and our amazing fans.”
It had been a foregone conclusion that Bird, an unrestricted free agent and the league’s oldest player at 40, would return for her 18th season and 20th year with the franchise.
After guiding the Storm to the 2020 WNBA championship last October, she expressed a desire to defend the title assuming “my health and my body allows me to do so.”
At the time, the Storm’s ownership group was vocal about its intentions that the franchise’s most decorated player — and one of Seattle’s great sports figures — retires wearing No. 10 with the team that selected her No. 1 overall in the 2002 WNBA draft.
The Storm orchestrated a slew of offseason moves that dramatically altered the roster and arguably weakened it’s chances of winning a second straight WNBA title.
The Storm traded All-Star forward Natasha Howard and reserve sharpshooter Sami Whitcomb to the New York Liberty for two first-round 2021 draft picks and backup Stephanie Talbot.
Seattle then shipped the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft to the Dallas Lynx for second-year forward Katie Lou Samuelson and its 2022 second-round pick.
Among a flurry of deals that day, the Storm also acquired forward Mikiah Herbert Harrigan from Minnesota in exchange for a 2022 first-round pick.
And before that whirlwind of deal making, Seattle lost defensive stalwart Alysha Clark, an unrestricted free agent who signed with the Washington Mystics, and backup center Crystal Langhorne, who retired, before adding seven-time WNBA All-Star Candice Dupree.
Ostensibly, the Storm will head into the 2021 season with a starting lineup that includes Bird and Jewell Loyd in the backcourt with Breanna Stewart and Dupree on the frontline alongside possibly Mercedes Russell, Ezi Magbegor, Samuelson or Herbert Harrigan.
Bird, an 11-time WNBA All-Star, is the bridge connecting the Storm’s dynastic runs that included a pair of WNBA titles with former great Lauren Jackson in 2004 and 2010 as well as the team’s latest championships in 2018 and 2020.
Last season, Bird returned from a year layoff due to arthroscopic left knee surgery and averaged a career-low 9.8 points, 5.2 assists and 23.4 minutes, which was also the fewest in her career.
Bird leads the WNBA in career assists (2,888) and games played (519). She’s also eighth in points (6,262), fourth in steals (659) and third in made 3-pointers (878) in league history.
