Sue Bird is feeling the love. This week, her legacy in Seattle was cemented with a major honor. That filled her with many emotions that spilled out on The Touch More podcast with Megan Rapinoe. Seattle renamed a street outside the Climate Pledge Arena in the city after the Storm superstar. Bird had expressed her gratitude for the city at the event already. However, days after it sunk in, she took to her podcast to convey her attachment to the city.

The City of Seattle and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell honored the 4x WNBA champion by permanently renaming the portion of Second Ave North between Denny Way and Lenny Wilkens Way “Sue Bird Court” on August 26. After the ceremony in the morning, she was back on The Touch More on the same day.

Seattle Reign’s Rapinoe, too, was all praise for the champ, who spent an entire two-decade WNBA career in the city. “It really was like very special and very sweet. And I think anybody who knows you in Seattle, anybody who’s walked around with you in Seattle, the same thing always happens. Everyone does feel a part of you and you feel a part of them. And this is how everybody greets Sue in Seattle. ‘Hey Sue.'” Bird agreed, she feels like she’s everyone’s friendly neighbor in Seattle.

The soccer star thinks no one in Seattle deserves this honor more than her friend. “You’ve been been such a cornerstone obviously of the franchise but of the city and just like people love you so much and you love the city so much and it was a really, really beautiful thing to see..”

Bird also expressed what a rare honor it was as a female athlete to have a part of the city named after her. She loves that she gets to share the honor with Lenny Wilkins with whose street Sue Bird Court connects. She did say there are “ some things in sports that you can’t take away from someone.” For her, it’s the people of Seattle she met and made memories with them.

Sue Bird remains attached to Seattle

Seattle Storm selected the UConn standout first overall in the 2002 WNBA draft. She put the league on notice from her first season when she won ROTY. The Storm point guard led the league in assists thrice, won four championships, five Olympic golds, and was a 13x All-Star.

For sports-loving Seattle, Bird and Storm are their basketball fix since the Supersonics left. It’s apt that they feel attached to Sue Bird.

At the ceremony, she said, “I’ve always loved and cherished playing here in Seattle. This city will forever be a part of me and that’s why I am so thankful and honored today.” She further repeated that the memories she made in Seattle are important to her.

The love between Sue and Seattle is mutual. And she’s going to love it when your next Door Dash delivery comes at Sue Bird Court.