Kevin Peltonapr 5, 2025, 12:20 pm et
Co-author Crows, the Pro Basketball Prospectus Series, previously developed consultants for the Indiana Pacers.
On Saturday, the Nysmith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame selected three of the greatest players in women’s basketball history as part of the class of 2025.
Sue Bird and Sylvia Fouls, both retired after the 2022 season, assumed they would head to the hall together as soon as they were eligible. (In December, Hall announced a reduction in waiting periods from three full seasons after retirement to two.)
They joined Moore, who last played for the WNBA in 2018, and then left the league to tackle social justice issues and help them overturn the illegal beliefs of their future husband, Jonathan Irons. Moore officially announced his retirement in January 2023 after first leaving the door open.
Timing means that three of the top 10 players in the WNBA’s biggest contributor ESPN rankings will be inducted into the Hall of Fame during the 25th anniversary of 2021 (classes will be officially enrolled on September 6th). Let’s take a look at the same day in June 2023, the birds and birds that were retiring numbers by Seattle Storm and Minnesota Links, respectively – and look at Moore’s first bolot selection and why there is no precedent for such a Hall of Fame class.
Suvard’s first and fourth titles with Seattle are 16 years apart, 2004, ’10, ’18, ’20. Ned Dishman via Getty Images/nbae
Suberd
UConn (1998-2002); Seattle Storm (2002-22)
The WNBA’s biggest sustained winner, Bird retired after playing more wins (332) than any other player in the league. The longevity of birds was an important factor. She recorded 580 games in the league in 20 years, overcoming knee injuries with four Seattle Championship teams from 2004 to 2020, earning the longest gap between WNBA players’ titles.
Bird’s legacy also includes being the largest point guard in WNBA history. She surpasses Tichapenisheiro as the league’s greatest leader in assists in 2017, and is always ahead of the first-place assist before Courtney Vandersroot. Bird’s ability to control the game as a scorer or distributor was innovative when he joined the league as the top pick of the 2002 draft, earning All-WNBA First Team Honor (the first of eight All-WNBA Picks) and leading the storm into the playoffs as a rookie.
Before joining the WNBA, Bird started in 2000 and 2002 for UConn’s National Championship team. The latter was perhaps the most dominant team in women’s basketball history, with a 39-0 record and an average margin of 26.8 points per game in the NCAA Tournament. Bird was the consensus national player of the year from 2001 to 2002.
After teaming up with Diana Taurasi on the Husky backcourt, Bird became a fixture with her in American basketball, winning five gold medals from 2004 to 2021.
Sylvia Fowles was the WNBA Finals MVP who helped lead Lynx to the championship in both 2015 and 2017. She was also the league MVP in 2017.
Sylvia Fouls
LSU (2004-08); Chicago Sky (2008-14); Minnesota Links (2015-22)
Four-time WNBA defensive player of the year, 6-fourths has a strong case as the best paint defender in league history. Only five Tamica Catching members won more DPOY Awards. Fouls is always fourth in the WNBA block and retired as the league’s greatest rebounder ever before becoming good at Tina Charles last season.
The Fouls, a dominant unit since her arrival in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, led the Tigers to the final four seasons of four seasons of their college career, earning all WNBA honors four times in seven seasons in the sky. It was the first time that her talent was fully appreciated after Fouls landed in Minnesota, demanding trade.
Participating in the Lynx team, which had already won titles in 2011 and 2013 – for more details, Fowles propelled Minnesota to two more championships over the next three seasons, appearing as the team’s best player, and winning the Final MVP after both titles. In 2017, Fouls was also selected as the league MVP.
The Fowles were geared as the rest of the Lynx team slowly melted. She won the ultimate Defensive Player of the Year award in 2021 at the age of 35 and placed fourth in the MVP voting that season. And Fouls was all WNBA second team picks (and all defensive first team selection) in the final season of 2022.
On the international stage, Fouls worked with Bird for four Olympic gold medals from 2008 to 2021.
Maya Moore won in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, helping to guide Lynx to four WNBA championships. APPhoto/Mark J. Terlill
Maya Moore
UConn (2007-11); Minnesota Links (2011-18)
Moore’s far too many briefs WNBA career coincided with a period of success for the biggest sustained team in league history. Over the eight seasons he played for Minnesota, the Lynx reached the final six times, winning four titles from his rookie campaign. New York Liberty is the only other franchise to reach the final six times, and it took Liberty 20 years after his previous four appearances as he returned.
Moore wasn’t the only reason for Lynx’s success. Fouls deserved great achievements in the second half of the run, with the entire era including Hall of Fame Lindsay Warren (selected in 2022) and Seymon Augustus (2024) as well as five-time All-Star and five-time champion Rebekkah Brunson.
Still, Moore’s full game helped the team win wherever she went. After winning the Gatorade National Player of the Year, UCONN won the Back-to-Back Championships in 2009 and 2010, earning Moore as the best player in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Moore, the only winner of the Wade Trophy in three times as National Player of the Year, was Minnesota’s obvious No. 1 pick.
Moore’s aspects of the game weren’t as exemplary as the bird’s passing or the fouls defense, but she was able to do it all on the court. Moore led the WNBA in scoring on her way to her sole MVP in 2014, but she could have helped her team as a defender or distributor. With all WNBA first team picks from 2013 to 2017, Moore shines particularly in advanced statistics.
Despite her short career, she featured a regular season game of less than half of Bird’s, but Moore was second in a playoff victory that outperformed the alternative player (warp) due to my metrics when she retired. With an emphasis on peak contributions and postseason performance, Moore ranked fourth in my championship and added estimates throughout the league’s first 25 seasons.
Again, Moore’s US basketball career was short, but he won gold medals in birds and chickens in 2012 and 2016.
Unprecedented class of female athletes
Surprisingly, this year marks the first time that three women have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as players in the same class.
Since first recognizing female players in Lusia Harris and Nera White in 1992, Hall has had eight other multiplayer classes, including three of the past four years. To date, the best pairings for WNBA players were former MVPS Yolanda Griffith and Lauren Jackson in 2021, and in 2018 they were the high-scoring duo of Katy Smith and Tina Thompson.
Jackson and Griffith are both in the top 13 of the WNBA top 25 ESPN rankings, making them closest to the top-end talent of the group this year. However, all three members of this year’s class were ranked ahead of Griffith, Smith and Thompson.
Without a doubt, the strongest class this year was before the WNBA. In 1993, Hall recognized UCLA legend Anne Mayers, who was the first to sign, as well as NBA team and Soviet star Urjana Semyonova. Two years later, USC superstar Sheryl Miller joined Old Dominion’s outstanding Annovan in the 1995 class.
As the WNBA grows, you can expect a large hole class that can usually reflect three to four men and men who show up as many as six players a year. Still, it could take some time before the timing of a group decorated like this year’s class.
