Hall of Fame Class Features 3 Women’s Hoops Legends


The illustrious journeys of Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles, and Maya Moore will end in Springfield’s Basketball Hall of Fame.

Maya Moore Sue Bird
(Photo by David Sherman/NBAE via Getty Images)

This year’s Basketball Hall of Fame class has some bite to it thanks to the inclusion of its feminine front.

wo

Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles, and Maya Moore were part of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2025 announcement on Saturday, the latest additions to the female portions of the establishment. It’s an appropriate ending for each of them, as all three changed the course of their respective programs at both the amateur and professional levels. 

Fans of the Connecticut Huskies and Minnesota Lynx are undoubtedly particularly pleased by Saturday’s developments: Moore spent her entire career (2011-18) with the Lynx franchise after winning a pair of national championships and endless individual accolades in Storrs, CT.  After winning two championships with the Lynx, Moore was joined by Fowles in 2015, and the two brought a couple more titles to Minneapolis, which owns a WNBA-best four rings.

Maya Moore, UConn, and Lynx Legend

Moore’s efforts matched Bird’s collegiate resume, which she also built in Connecticut before landing top pick honors at the WNBA Draft. She spent her whole domestic professional tenure with the Seattle Storm, who additionally earned four championships during the new inductee’s storied tenure (2002-22).

Moore played just eight WNBA seasons before leaving to focus on criminal justice reform. She certainly made those professional seasons count. A six-time WNBA All-Star, Moore won the MVP award on three occasions (tied for the most all-time with Lisa Leslie). Moore also led the Association in scoring (2014) and steals (2018) on separate occasions.  In fact, she reached the All-WNBA teams in every season but her first.

On the amateur level, Moore is the only participant to win three Wade Trophies (earned by the nation’s best female college basketball player). She also counts a couple of Naismith College Player of the Year, Wooden, and Associated Press Player of the Year Awards as some of the many individual honors to her name, all while standing as one of the most decorated women in Huskies history.

Where Does Sylvia Fowles Rank Among The WNBA Greats?

Fowles was a star before she teamed up with Moore: the LSU alumna was the second overall pick of the 2008 draft and played her first seven years with the Chicago Sky before joining the Lynx in a 2015 trade. In that period, the 6-6 Fowles quickly began to establish herself as a defensive menace, winning two Defensive Player of the Year titles.  She led the league in blocks twice, and earned four consecutive All-Defensive first teams. 

Her profile only grew in Minneapolis, winning two more DPOY titles to give her four in her career (being one of only two women to reach that tally, along with Tamika Catchings). She was a part of the Lynx’s latter two titles and earned MVP honors in both editions of the Finals. Fowles succeeded former teammate Rebekkah Brunson as the all-time leader in WNBA rebounds, and held that mark for four seasons until Tina Charles took over at the end of last year.

Is Sue Bird The Greatest Point Guard Of All Time?

The class is rounded out by Bird, the accomplished point guard with an equally stocked trophy case. Bird won four WNBA titles and two NCAA championships. Notably, her five Olympic gold medals earned with the United States’ women’s national basketball team are tied for a record among hardwood representatives of both genders with Diana Taurasi.

Bird won the first three Nancy Lieberman Awards bestowed to the nation’s top female point guard, and has been joined in the sisterhood of three by only Sabrina Ionescu and Caitlin Clark. All that and more guided her to the Pacific Northwest where two decades of greatness awaited her.

In addition to her domestic rings, Bird was as 13-time WNBA All-Star, and named to the Association’s 10th, 15th, 20th, and 25th anniversary teams. She is one of four women to lead the WNBA in assists on at least three occasions (joining Ticha Penicheiro, Courtney Vandersloot, and Lindsay Whalen) and also brought home a variety of international titles from overseas play in Russia.

 Bird, Fowles, and Moore will officially be enshrined in Springfield in September.

Geoff Magliocchetti is X @GeoffJMags





Source link

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR