Sue Bird spent her adolescence trying to convince everyone that Celtics legend Larry Bird was her uncle

Sue Bird told Insider that she is frequently questioned if she is connected to NBA legend Larry Bird.

The WNBA player acknowledged that she used to tell people, falsely, that the star of the Celtics was her uncle.

While filming a recent advertisement, Bird told her pretend uncle the story, to which he responded, “I’m honored.”

Despite not being related, the two best players in American basketball history have the same last name.

 

However, legend Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics could as well be Sue Bird’s uncle in the eyes of the WNBA. Anyhow, that’s what she told everybody.

Bird would “get asked all the time” as a child growing up in Syosset, New York, if the NBA point guard was related to her. She had a propensity of lying about her family tree since she enjoyed being mistaken for the Indiana native’s daughter or niece.

 

“It’s like a famous story in my childhood school and neighborhood that I lied and I would tell people he was my uncle like all the time,” Bird joked with Insider. “I mean, I was like 6 or 7, so I feel like that’s excusable.”

After a few decades, Bird has established herself as a basketball legend and taken ownership of her well-known last name. Larry Bird’s fictitious niece went on to become one of the most accomplished players in women’s basketball history, winning four WNBA crowns, five Olympic gold medals, twelve WNBA All-Star selections, and more assists than any other player to have ever played in the league.

Bird is now well-known in the American public, not just among WNBA fans, as women’s basketball and women’s sports in general are beginning to get the mainstream media attention they have long deserved. She may even have been seen in one of her several TV ads that ran during March Madness this year.

 

Bird appears in one of these commercials with her “Uncle Larry.” She also said to Insider that one of the highlights of the shoot was when she “actually got to share that story with Larry.”

 

“So I told the story and I was like, ‘Yeah, so you’ve been an honorary member of my family, you just didn’t know it,'” Bird remembered. He said, ‘I’m honored,’ after that. That is a privilege. Like, ‘Thanks, Larry.'”

 

Bird, who is currently 41 years old, declared in January that she would be playing in the WNBA for “one more year.” Bird is currently the oldest player still in the league. If the Seattle Storm win a fifth championship before the renowned point guard formally departs, Bird will tie Rebekkah Brunson for the record for the most titles won by any player in the WNBA. The 2022 season begins in May.