She spoke to reporters on Thursday afternoon, saying that she has people say to her they "can't even tell" she's 41 years old, but she knows she's not the same player she used to be.

“For pretty much your entire career, you get to play the game. You’re playing it. You’re out there, and you’re able to use your strengths and try to hide your weakness, and you’re playing, and because of natural aging, you lose some stuff over time. You’re not as quick, you’re not as fast. There’s different things you lose.

"It is a compliment to think that when I’m out there, I’m still able to help my team, I’m still able to perform. But I don’t feel like I’m fully myself anymore. There’s parts of that where it’s sad to let that go, or sad to know that that’s gone, but there’s also a realization, like, I’m 41. That’s okay, too.

“I feel like I’ve played as long as I can at a really high level, both physically and mentally, and it’s just gotten harder. You know when to say when, you know?”

While she may not be in her prime anymore, she will still go down as one of the most decorated, and maybe the greatest, female basketball players of all time.

The 12-time All-Star won four WNBA titles and was named First Team All-WNBA five times. She also is a five-time Olympic gold medalist while winning four FIBA World Championship golds, and is the WNBA's all-time assists leader.

The Syosset native won two titles with the Huskies back in 2000 and 2002, and was drafted by the Seattle Storm with the first pick in 2002, where she has played her entire WNBA career.

Geno Auriemma also released the following statement on Bird:

"Obviously everyone knew this day was coming sooner rather than later. Sue was close the last couple years to making this decision and she felt that this was the absolute best time for her to step away from the game.

"There certainly isn’t anything that Sue left undone or to prove. There’s going to be a lot of stories written and comparisons made about her and everything she’s done. It really is no exaggeration to say, I don’t think in our lifetime of watching basketball, that we’ve seen anyone play that position at a higher level and for a longer period of time than Sue has.

"There’s a lot of things that have been accomplished and people will say, ‘That record will never be broken.’ The things Sue has done, the accomplishments she’s earned – I feel pretty good that that’s never going to be done again. And if it is? Well, I wouldn’t bet on it."

Popular in the Community