The trio of Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore will be the most dominant class of women\u2019s basketball players to ever enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame when they are enshrined this weekend.<\/p>\n
Count them up: 11 Olympic gold medals and 10 WNBA championships.<\/p>\n
Add their record-setting milestones, and this group has no equal. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think that would be fair to say that they would have the title of best class ever,\u201d Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. \u201cThey are each Hall of Famers and are terrific in their own right to the extent they impacted their sport.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut us on a 3×3 team you\u2019d have some problems, we\u2019d be pretty good,\u201d Bird said laughing. \u201cIt is pretty special to go in with people who aren\u2019t just amazing players, having impact on and off the court, but these are players that I got to experience life with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moore echoed her Olympic teammate\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s absolutely one of my highlights, going in with Syl and Sue,\u201d Moore said. \u201cJust players that I had so many positive moments with, but also I know what it\u2019s like to grind things out with them as well. We\u2019ve been battle-tested with each other as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s last two with the Lynx.<\/p>\n
Bird\u2019s career spanned more than two decades as she played 19 seasons as an active player. The WNBA\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
She recently became the first WNBA player ever honored with a statue<\/a> by her former team.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be immortalized with the basketball greats, men and women is really exciting,\u201d said the 44-year-old Bird. \u201cI don\u2019t think I started playing sports to get to this point, but also it\u2019s something you\u2019re 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\u2019s happening, in a way that is permanent, with these names forever, is really special.\u201d <\/p>\n Fowles finished her career as the WNBA\u2019s 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\u2019s MVP. <\/p>\n \u201cRelentless,\u201d was how Fowles described her game. \u201cI didn\u2019t talk a lot, but I knew how to get the job done, and it\u2019s not too many people who\u2019s going to stop me at doing that. So I can definitely say I want to be remembered as somebody who\u2019s just relentless.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore remembers how great her teammate was on Minnesota and that Fowles, 39, never seemed to receive the recognition she deserved.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Moore said. \u201cHow long she played at a high level and how just ridiculously unstoppable she was.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore, 36, left the game while she was on top, stepping away before the 2019 season. <\/p>\n