Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Sue Bird Names the Winner of Her 1v1 Against Diana Taurasi

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Matt De Lima | Last updated Jun 16, 2025 3:14 PM ET

One of the fun ways to debate the greatness of players is to speculate what would happen if they went up against each other one-on-one. In recent years, several of the WNBA's all-time greats have retired, like Elena Delle Donne, Candace Parker, Sylvia Fowles, Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi.

So not only would be interesting to discuss them going up against some of the sport's early stars like Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, Tamika Catchings and so on; one might also wonder how they'd all fare against today's young stars like A'ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, Napheesa Collier, Allisha Gray, Sabrina Ionescu and more.

It just so happens that Bird was talking to Dearica Hamby and Cameron Brink on her podcast on "Straight to Cam," and the 44-year-old WNBA legend was recounting her memory of playing against Taurasi heads-up.

"We played overseas for what ended up being like eight seasons together," Bird said. "Overseas, there's so much downtime—two practices per day. You're constantly in the gym. Honestly, a lot of times, it's a waste of time. So you're just sitting there. And we're like, 'We never played each other one-on-one.' Except for this one time.

"We played one-on-one one time. And, truly, I don't even remember who won—probably her. It's not even about that. But very quickly, as the game started to go, we started, similar to that jump ball, it was just like, and I remember I said to her, I was like, 'If I was tall, I'd be kicking your (expletive) right now.'"

Bird is 5-foot-9 and 150 pounds, and Taurasi is 6-foot and 163 pounds.

"And she was like, 'If I was fast, you wouldn't even be getting by me!' It just started getting into that. And then we were like, 'You know what, let's just go to dinner.'"

Both players are considered among the all-time WNBA greats.

Taurasi is one of the most accomplished WNBA players of all time, and Bird isn't far behind. Taurasi, the No. 1 overall pick in 2001, won three WNBA titles and Bird, the No. 1 overall pick in 2002, won four. Bird is the WNBA all-time leader in games, minutes played and assists.

Taurasi has the most field goals, field goal attempts, three-point field goals, three-point field goal attempts, field goals missed, free throws, free throw attempts, turnovers, personal fouls and points.

In June 2022, Bird announced her retirement from the WNBA, and the following June, the Seattle Storm retired her No. 10 jersey. In February, Taurasi announced her WNBA retirement.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: