The trio of Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore will be the most dominant class of women’s basketball players to ever enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame when they are enshrined this weekend.
Count them up: 11 Olympic gold medals and 10 WNBA championships.
Add their record-setting milestones, and this group has no equal.
“I think that would be fair to say that they would have the title of best class ever,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “They are each Hall of Famers and are terrific in their own right to the extent they impacted their sport.”
Their 11 Olympic gold medals are more than any other group ever to enter the Hall of Fame. They teamed up to help the U.S. win the 2012 and 2016 Games with Bird also winning golds in 2004, 2008 and 2020. Fowles played with Bird on the 2008 and 2020 teams.
“Put us on a 3x3 team you’d have some problems, we’d be pretty good,” Bird said laughing. “It is pretty special to go in with people who aren’t just amazing players, having impact on and off the court, but these are players that I got to experience life with.”
Moore echoed her Olympic teammate's sentiments.
“That’s absolutely one of my highlights, going in with Syl and Sue," Moore said. “Just players that I had so many positive moments with, but also I know what it’s like to grind things out with them as well. We’ve been battle-tested with each other as well.”
In the WNBA, the trio was part of 10 WNBA championships: Bird walked away with four in Seattle and Moore captured four in Minnesota. Fowles was a big part of Moore's last two with the Lynx.
Bird's career spanned more than two decades as she played 19 seasons as an active player. The WNBA's career assist leader, the 5-foot-9 floor general also finished atop the career list in minutes played, games played and All-Star appearances. She helped the Storm win championships (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020) after being part of two NCAA titles at UConn.
She recently became the first WNBA player ever honored with a statue by her former team.
“To be immortalized with the basketball greats, men and women is really exciting,” said the 44-year-old Bird. “I don’t think I started playing sports to get to this point, but also it's something you’re aware of going through your career. You meet people who are introduced as Hall of Famer. Now to finally get to this point where it’s happening, in a way that is permanent, with these names forever, is really special.”
Fowles finished her career as the WNBA's leading career rebounder before being passed by Tina Charles last season. The 6-foot-6 Fowles was an intimidating force and was a four-time Defensive Player of the Year in the league and earned WNBA Finals MVP honors twice in 2015 and 2017. That same year she also was the league's MVP.
“Relentless,” was how Fowles described her game. “I didn’t talk a lot, but I knew how to get the job done, and it’s not too many people who’s going to stop me at doing that. So I can definitely say I want to be remembered as somebody who’s just relentless.”
Moore remembers how great her teammate was on Minnesota and that Fowles, 39, never seemed to receive the recognition she deserved.
“I want the greater community to be able to honor and to see Syl for who she is and to appreciate how easy she made hard things look,” Moore said. “How long she played at a high level and how just ridiculously unstoppable she was.”
Moore, 36, left the game while she was on top, stepping away before the 2019 season.
She packed quite a career into her eight seasons with the Lynx before walking away to focus on social justice issues and help overturn the wrongful conviction of her now-husband, Jonathan Irons. She helped the Lynx win four championships, earning a league MVP in 2014 and Finals MVP the season before.
At 6-foot and blessed with great athletic ability, Moore was a matchup nightmare. She was first-team all-WNBA for five straight seasons and also is one of two players ever to earn AP All-America honors four times. Like Bird, Moore won two titles in college at UConn before heading to the WNBA.
“I was always going to try to give them my best and just be present and focused and locked in to give you all that I had,” Moore said.
The three will be happy to see each other again this weekend and share in the moment to be honored among the best.
“This obviously is an amazing class. Each of them would be in consideration for the best to ever play their position in the era of the WNBA,” ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo said. “Sue without question is one of the best point guards, if not the best. Sylvia is in the conversation for one of the best centers and Maya is one of the best ever as well.”
It’s the first time three WNBA players will enter the Hall of Fame in the same year. Though that might become the norm moving forward, it will be hard for any group to match the accolades of this class.
As a group entering the Hall of Fame, the titles, medals and milestones held by Bird, Moore and Fowles may never be matched.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
