Sue Bird came back to the WNBA and made life easier and harder for Seattle’s front office

WNBA legend Sue Bird announced her intentions of returning to the WNBA for another season.

As the WNBA approaches its negotiation period of free agency, a Friday bomb was dropped before the fun was supposed to begin. Sue Bird shared an Instagram post announcing her return to the W for her 19th season.

Under league rules, Bird and Seattle can’t officially begin negotiations until January 15th and a contract can’t be signed until February 1st. A violation of such is tampering, which is why Seattle quickly removed a “BIRD IS BACK” graphic and a “Run it back” post from its official Twitter account. But make no mistake about it. Bird’s intentions seem clear as she captioned her Instagram post with yellow and green colored heart emojis.

Bird’s anticipated 19th go-around with the Storm will be welcomed by both fans and an organization pursuing a fifth WNBA championship. Her decorated career includes four WNBA Championships, 12 All-Star appearances, five All-WNBA First Team selections, three All-WNBA Second Team selections, five Olympic gold medals, and she’s the all-time WNBA assists leader.

However, Bird’s return could make for an even more interesting free agency period across the league.

The Storm currently have eight players from their 2021 roster entering free agency — four restricted and four unrestricted. Arguably two of the top three or four unrestricted free agents in all of the W are Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd, who Seattle will have to pay top dollar to keep from leaving. Bird’s return makes that harder to do, but it’s still possible. Having all three players back just wouldn’t leave much money for the Storm to round out the roster with quality players.

Depending on which way free agency breaks, there will be more on the table for the rest of the league. Seattle keeps its “Big 3” and the top free agents steer clear of Seattle. Or, one of the three departs Seattle and the free agency period gets wild. Either way, the Storm (and their free agents) will have some decisions to make.

Seattle enters the free agency period looking to load up for another WNBA championship. It’s currently +450 at Tipico Sportsbook to win in 2022, but those may be changing in the next few weeks as free agency unfolds.

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