San Antonio Spurs: Sue Bird joins Tim Duncan in elite level of champions

The Seattle Storm legend join the San Antonio Spurs one in the elite tier of champions

Last night the Seattle Storm took down the Las Vegas Aces to capture their fourth WNBA title. And in capturing her fourth championship, Seattle Storm point guard and basketball legend Sue Bird joined San Antonio Spurs legend , Tim Duncan, in some rarefied air.

By winning championships in ’04, ’10, ’18, and now 2020, Bird matched Duncans feat of winning a title in three different decades. As we all know, Duncan won his five rings in ’99, ’03, ’05, ’07, and ’14.

Duncan’s got the edge on Bird in total titles right now but Sue looks like she’s got plenty of gas left in the tank and with an elite two-way player in Breanna Stewart as her teammate, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see Bird grab another championship in 2021 before hanging it up.

As if winning championships in three different decades wasn’t impressive enough, these two legends of the game managed to do it with the same team for every ring they won. Like many WNBA stars, Bird supplemented her income in some years by playing in Russia but she won every one of her WNBA championships with the Seattle Storm, just as Duncan won all of his with our San Antonio Spurs.

When you compare their individual resumes, Bird and Duncan stack up even among the top-five ever to play in their respective leagues. Bird’s got plenty of hardware crowding her shelves, 4 Olympic Gold’s, 5 EuroLeague Titles, 2 NCAA Titles, 4 WNBA Championships and she’s the WNBA’s career leader in assists. That matches up pretty well with Duncan’s Hall of Fame resume.

Before the fall is over the two could be joined by another star to have won a title in three different decades. And he will have done it all with the same team, much like Bird and Duncan.

If the Miami Heat are able to pull out an improbable win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Udonis Haslem will have won championships in ’06, ’12, ’13, and ’20. He doesn’t have the individual resume to match Bird or Duncan but that longevity and his importance to his organization are right on par with the two legends.

Hats off to Sue Bird and the Seattle Storm on their impressive victory. It hurts a little bit to see them take down the team formerly known as the San Antonio Silver Stars to make it happen but you have to acknowledge greatness when you see it.