Instead of celebrating her third WNBA championship with offseason R&R, Sue Bird got a second job. Less than two months after Bird helped steer the Seattle Storm to a three-game sweep of the Washington Mystics, she agreed to work for the Denver Nuggets as a basketball operations associate. Bird has no plans to hang her sneakers up yet, but her role with the Nuggets has given her a taste of what a career in an NBA front office is like.
Sunday, Bird spoke to local media about her first few weeks with the Nuggets, Denver’s point guard play, Seattle’s championship run and the WNBA Players Association’s decision to opt out of it current collective bargaining agreement. Here were the highlights, which have been edited and condensed for clarity.
Q: What was the initial conversation like and how did this come about?
Bird: It was pretty casual. Just kind of talking. (Nuggets president of basketball operations) Tim (Connelly) asking me some questions about what do you want to do when you’re done. That kind of thing. The one thing he said that really made that conversation go was, ‘Listen, I know you’re still a player. I know you want to continue your career. So this could be a way for you to do both.’ I was like, ‘Oh.’ I always thought about front office work, coaching, being with a team day in and day out. I thought that wasn’t something I was going to get to until I was done playing. That’s like you’re all in. You have to really commit. When he put it in a way where I could do both, it became extremely attractive.
What are your impressions about the two point guards on this team, Jamal Murray and Monte Morris?
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