Sue Bird's Story of Near-WNBA Team Up With Diana Taurasi Turns Heads

The thought of Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi on the same WNBA team could have become reality.

Aug 8, 2021; Saitama, Japan; United States players Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird celebrate with their gold medals after the women's basketball gold medal match during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Summer Games at Saitama Super Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Lang-Imagn Images | James Lang-Imagn Images

Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi will go down as two of the greatest players in basketball history, both on the men's and women's side of the sport.

Taurasi announcing her retirement from the WNBA after 20 seasons at the end of February prompted a cascade of praise her way. It also brought to mind the staggering success she accomplished at basketball's highest level, which includes a basketball record six Olympic gold medals.

In addition to them being Team USA teammates, Bird and Taurasi played in Russia together for multiple WNBA offseasons, and were teammates on Dynamo Moscow and UMMC Ekaterinburg.

These two icons never played on the same WNBA team. However, in a March 6 episode of Bird's A Touch More show, she revealed that the two were keen on making it happen at one point.

"We did once. For real," Bird said when her fiancèe and co-host Megan Rapinoe asked if she and Taurasi ever conspired to play in the WNBA together.

"For those who have heard us talk about our dinners in Russia, they would go anywhere from, I would say average four to five hours," Bird said. "I repeat, we had nothing to do, so we would sit in restaurants and yak.

"And this one night... probably like in the 2012-13 range, we were like, 'What are we doing? Like, why aren't we playing together in the WNBA? This is dumb,'" she continued.

"We got to the point where we knew it would be New York, we had a team picked out — because let's be honest, I'm not coming to Phoenix and she's not coming to Seattle," Bird added. "The wheels started turning. The alcohol was flowing, I'm not gonna lie. Listen... we had grand plans and then by the next day it was like, 'Well, I'm not leaving Seattle.' And she's like, 'Well, I'm not leaving Phoenix,' and that was the end of that.

"But I will say, in the moment, it sounded good."

The thought of these basketball icons in the same WNBA jersey is equal parts captivating and mind boggling.