WNBA legend Sue Bird heaps praise on former Storm teammate Jewell Loyd

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Amid her lengthy jersey retirement speech last weekend, Sue Bird took a moment to talk about the future of the only franchise she played for in her WNBA career.

And how that franchise — the Seattle Storm — is now in the hands of Jewell Loyd.

"To see your game grow, to see you grow as a person, as a human, as a basketball player, I’m still so excited that I have a courtside seat and I get to watch it continue," Bird said, words directed to her former teammate. "I’m so proud of you. You are really becoming such a wonderful player to watch and such a wonderful leader to watch. I see how your teammate interact with you and I’m impressed."

For more than 20 seasons, Bird was the face of the Storm and for two separate stretches she was joined by arguably the best players in the world at that time in Lauren Jackson and Breanna Stewart.

Jewell Loyd #24 of the Seattle Storm looks on after the game against the Phoenix Mercury on June 13, 2023 at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona.  (Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)

But Seattle has now entered a different phase of the franchise after Bird retired and Stewart signed with the New York Liberty in free agency. It’s a rebuild for Seattle that is centered around Loyd, now in her ninth season.

And with it comes opportunity and responsibility that Loyd hasn’t been asked to take on in the past, especially with someone like Bird as her teammate.

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"Jewell is great when she’s scoring for us and is very active defensively. And so what I’ve asked her for this year in the leadership role is to do it by example, how you show up every single day, how you