Sue Bird Recalls Her First Thought After Seeing 18-Year-Old Kelsey Plum at Storm Games

Kelsey Plum was born with an innate drive to excel at her passion. Before she even stepped on a basketball court as a WNBA player, she hustled her way into the pro basketball experience as an intern. While working with the Seattle Storm as a college freshman, Plum met Sue Bird and the rest of the roster. That encounter between remains an ever-strong memory in Bird’s heart.

Kelsey Plum’s goal since she was a kid was to play in the WNBA. She got one step closer after committing to the University of Washington on a full-ride scholarship. Coincidentally, one of her assistant coaches with the Huskies, Adia Barnes, was a radio broadcaster for Seattle Storm games.

At the time, Plum was 18 years old. She saw an opportunity to gain experience and immediately pounced on it.

“I actually took a class in Washington, and you could intern,” Plum said on Bird’s Eye View. “So I pitched it to her. I was like, ‘Let me be your intern.'”

Barnes accepted Plum’s offer for the 2014 WNBA season. Sue Bird didn’t live under a rock, so she knew what a promising prospect Plum was. It’s hard to judge whether she knew Plum would become one of the greatest female collegiate players of all time or not, but there is something she knew right off the bat.

“I wrote my memory of you, and it was ambition. That’s what I was struck by you in that moment. So the fact that you pitched this as an intern, that has ambition written all over it. You just had an ambition about you that this is what you were going to do,” Bird said.

That specific trait contributed to Plum’s success and led to her becoming the first pick in the 2017 WNBA Draft, a two-time WNBA champion and a four-time All-Star.

That same ambition also pushed Plum not to remain complacent. As a result, she left a great situation with the Las Vegas Aces to join the Los Angeles Sparks in hopes of carrying a team on her back.

Plum is currently having the best season of her career in her first season with the Sparks. Bird’s WNBA career may be over, but she continues to watch eagerly from the sidelines to see just how far Plum’s ambition will take her.