Sue Bird hopes that when she’s in her 50s and 60s, she can be like a former NBA player who currently throws out opinions on television. One model Bird sees for herself: Charles Barkley. She remembers multiple instances of hearing the Naismith Hall of Famer talk about his playing days on TNT’s “Inside the NBA.”
“He’s like, ‘Oh, I had to fly commercial. I didn’t have these charter flights.’ Or, ‘Oh, these guys are making $40 million. Like, my contract was only —I don’t know, $10 million.’ And he kind of sounds disgruntled,” Bird said on NPR’s Fresh Air last month.
She wants to one day be able to toss out back-in-my-day tales. “I’ve always joked, I hope I’m that disgruntled athlete because that means all the blood, sweat and tears was for something,” she said. “It means the game has grown.”
Bird retired after two decades in the WNBA following the 2022 season. She hasn’t been out of the league even two full years (Bird technically jumped back in this April when she joined the Storm’s ownership group), but the league she’ll watch this summer is already in a better place than it was when she retired.
Changes — both momentous and minute — are already aplenty as the 28th regular season begins Tuesday. For years, as Bird and recently…
