Sue Bird retires a legend and future Hall of Famer, but the Seattle Storm point guard only made it look easy

SEATTLE — Sue Bird walked off the court Tuesday for the last time, her WNBA career concluding where it started two decades earlier. Despite a season-ending loss, the Seattle Storm point guard received a fitting tribute from the crowd at Climate Pledge Arena. The fans roared their appreciation for her 19 seasons as Bird unsuccessfully fought back tears, repeatedly acknowledging the crowd by raising her hands, before disappearing into the tunnel.

Bird’s path from No. 1 overall pick of the WNBA draft to future Hall of Famer seemed direct. She walks away from the WNBA as the most decorated player in league history, with a record 13 All-Star appearances and four championships during a career spent entirely in Seattle.

Over two decades here, Bird was a paragon of consistency, averaging double-figure scoring each of her first 16 seasons and at least 4.8 assists in all but one of her campaigns. Yet the steady play required Bird to navigate a series of career-threatening surgeries on her troublesome left knee, an ever-changing group of teammates and her own aging.

It all came to an end Tuesday, when the Las Vegas Aces eliminated the Storm 3-1 in the WNBA semifinals. As Bird has reflected on her career over the last several weeks, she was perhaps proudest of winning four WNBA championships across three different stages — and decades — of her career. Bird first won as part of a duo with fellow 23-year-old Lauren Jackson, then again with the two stars in their prime six years later. She added the final two championships as a veteran presence on a roster anchored by younger stars Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart.

“It wasn’t just like lightning in a bottle where you had a great roster for a couple of years,” Bird said. “I was part of teams where each time we won we had to figure it out. It was a totally different equation and we did it. I’m really proud of that.”

On the way there, Bird considered leaving to finish her career elsewhere before recommitting to the Storm,…