WASHINGTON, D.C.—Even though the Seattle Storm lost an overtime thriller to the Washington Mystics on Friday night, 110-106, Storm point guard Sue Bird had a pretty big reason to smile after the game.
In the first quarter, Bird became the WNBA’s all-time leader in assists, when she passed Ticha Penicheiro with her third assist of the night, the 2,600th of her legendary 15-year career.
Overall, she had 13 assists on the night, her season high. She added 19 points for good measure.
Bird continues to make a case for herself as the greatest point guard in the history of the league. Her consistency, with fourteen seasons in the league’s top ten in assist percentage, is only equaled by her excellence—managing to finish atop the league in the stat twice, nine years apart, while topping 35 percent both in her rookie year of 2002 and 2017.
In the moments that followed Bird setting the mark, the respect of not only her teammates but her opponents as well was clearly evident.
She talked to The Summitt after the game about her monumental feat, which was made even sweeter because her niece and nephew were able to watch it in person. Plus, she talked about what young point guard impresses her the most.