Sue Bird Reportedly Set to Become USA Women's Basketball Team Managing Director

USA Basketball plans to appoint WNBA legend Sue Bird as the next managing director for the women's national team, according to The Athletic's Chantel Jennings and Joe Vardon.

"Her hiring is a departure from a longstanding structure of using a committee to select players and coaches for national team rosters and comes on the heels of a very close call for the USA women in Paris," Jennings and Vardon wrote.

When it came time to pick the roster for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Team USA utilized a competition committee led by Jen Rizzotti. South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, WNBA head of league operations Bethany Donaphin and Atlanta Dream general manager Dan Padover also had a say in the process.

Now, it sounds like the power will be concentrated in the hands of Bird ahead of the 2028 Summer Games.

The 44-year-old is one of the greatest point guards in women's basketball history. A 13-time All-Star and four-time champion in the WNBA, she also won five gold medals with the United States in the Olympics.

According to Jennings and Vardon, USA Basketball sees Bird as a figure who will successfully sell stars on the idea of continuing to represent the national team. They posited she also "could help smooth some of the politics and also perhaps ensure that USA mini-camps — a long tradition for the women’s team — remain well attended."

The second part was a reference to the anger from fans that emerged when Caitlin Clark was left off the roster for Paris.

When the choice was made in early June, it was harder to argue than it is now that Clark was one of the 12 best players in the American roster pool. She had missed a Team USA training camp that spring, too, because she was playing in the 2024 Final Four with Iowa.

Maybe Bird's reputation and popularity will help to stave off future controversies of that nature.

In the case of men's managing director Grant Hill, his on-court accolades did little to quell the disputes after the Boston Celtics' Jaylen Brown was omitted from the 2024 squad, though.

For Bird, becoming the women's managing director is likely to be a thankless task.

Team USA has won eight straight gold medals in the Summer Games on top of four successive triumphs in the FIBA Women's World Cup. Should that dominance continue, Bird won't get much credit, but she can count on receiving a lot of blame if the Olympics streak ends on her watch.