Celebrating the Unprecedented 2025 Naismith Hall of Fame Class: Bird, Fowles, and Moore
On a memorable Saturday, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced the induction of three of the most iconic figures in women’s basketball history. The 2025 class is nothing short of spectacular, featuring Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles, and Maya Moore. These three legends have left an indelible mark on the sport, and their simultaneous induction is a testament to their extraordinary contributions.
Both Sue Bird and Sylvia Fowles retired after the 2022 season, and it was widely anticipated that they would enter the Hall of Fame together as soon as they were eligible. The Hall’s decision to reduce the waiting period from three full seasons after retirement to two made this possible. Maya Moore, who last played in the WNBA in 2018, joins them. Moore stepped away from the league to focus on social justice issues and played a pivotal role in overturning the wrongful conviction of her future husband, Jonathan Irons. She officially announced her retirement in January 2023.
This timing means that three of the top 10 players in ESPN’s ranking of the WNBA’s greatest contributors during its 25th anniversary in 2021 will enter the Hall of Fame together. The class will be officially enshrined on September 6. Let’s delve into what made Bird, Fowles, and Moore first-ballot selections and why this Hall of Fame class is truly unprecedented.
Sue Bird: The Ultimate Winner
UConn (1998-2002); Seattle Storm (2002-22)
Sue Bird’s career is synonymous with winning. She retired having played in more wins (332) than any other player in WNBA history. Her longevity was remarkable, playing a record 580 games over two decades, overcoming knee injuries, and starring on four Seattle championship teams from 2004 to 2020. This 16-year gap between titles is the longest for any WNBA player.
Bird is widely regarded as the greatest point guard in WNBA history. She surpassed Ticha Penicheiro as the league’s all-time leader in assists in 2017 and remains nearly 400 assists ahead of Courtney Vandersloot for the top spot. Bird’s ability to control a game as both a scorer and distributor was revolutionary when she entered the league as the top pick of the 2002 draft. She earned All-WNBA first-team honors (the first of eight All-WNBA picks) and led the Storm to the playoffs as a rookie.
Before her WNBA career, Bird was a key player for UConn’s national championship teams in 2000 and 2002. The latter team is considered one of the most dominant in women’s basketball history, boasting 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 in 2001-02.
Bird’s international career is equally impressive. She teamed with Diana Taurasi in the Huskies’ backcourt and became a fixture alongside her for USA Basketball, winning five gold medals from 2004 to 2021. Only Taurasi, who added a sixth last year, surpasses Bird in Olympic history.
Sylvia Fowles: A Defensive Powerhouse
LSU (2004-08); Chicago Sky (2008-14); Minnesota Lynx (2015-22)
Sylvia Fowles, a four-time WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, is arguably the greatest paint defender in league history. Only Tamika Catchings, with five, won more DPOY awards. Fowles is fourth all-time in WNBA blocks and retired as the league’s all-time leading rebounder before being surpassed by Tina Charles last season.
Fowles was a dominant force from the moment she arrived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, leading the Tigers to the Final Four all four seasons of her college career. She earned All-WNBA honors four times in seven seasons with the Sky. It was only after Fowles requested a trade and landed in Minnesota that her talent was fully appreciated.
Joining a Lynx team that had already won titles in 2011 and 2013, Fowles propelled Minnesota to two more championships over the next three seasons and emerged as the team’s best player, winning Finals MVP after both titles. In 2017, Fowles was also voted league MVP.
As the rest of the Lynx team slowly dissolved, Fowles remained a fixture. She won her final Defensive Player of the Year award in 2021 at age 35, finishing fourth in MVP voting that season. Fowles was an All-WNBA second-team pick (and All-Defensive first-team selection) in her final season, 2022.
On the international stage, Fowles teamed with Bird for four Olympic gold medals from 2008 to 2021.
Maya Moore: A Short but Stellar Career
UConn (2007-11); Minnesota Lynx (2011-18)
Maya Moore’s WNBA career may have been brief, but it was nothing short of spectacular. During her eight seasons with the Minnesota Lynx, the team reached the Finals six times and won four titles, starting with her rookie campaign. The New York Liberty is the only other franchise to have reached the Finals six times, and it took two decades after their previous four appearances for the Liberty to get back.
Moore wasn’t the sole reason for the Lynx’s success. Fowles deserves significant credit for the latter part of the run, while the era also included Hall of Famers Lindsay Whalen (elected in 2022) and Seimone Augustus (2024), along with five-time All-Star and five-time champion Rebekkah Brunson.
Still, Moore’s complete game helped her team win wherever she went. After earning the Gatorade National Player of the Year, UConn won back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010, with Moore as Most Outstanding Player of the 2010 NCAA tournament. The only three-time winner of the Wade trophy as national player of the year, Moore was an obvious No. 1 pick by Minnesota.
No aspect of Moore’s game was as exemplary as Bird’s passing or Fowles’ defense, but she could do everything on the court. Moore led the WNBA in scoring in 2014 en route to her only MVP, yet she was equally likely to help her team as a defender or distributor. An All-WNBA first-team pick every season from 2013 to 2017, Moore particularly shines in advanced stats.
Despite her short career, which featured fewer than half as many regular-season games as Bird, Moore was second in playoff wins above replacement player (WARP) by my metric when she retired. Because of its emphasis on peak contributions and postseason performance, Moore ranked fourth in my championships added estimate through the league’s first 25 seasons — the same place she ranked in our voting.
Again, Moore’s USA Basketball career was brief, but she won gold medals with Bird and Fowles in 2012 and 2016.
An Unprecedented Class of Women Players
Remarkably, this year will mark the first time three women have been inducted into the Hall of Fame as players in the same class.
Since first recognizing female players with Lusia Harris and Nera White in 1992, the Hall has had eight other multiplayer classes, including three of the past four years. To date, the best pairings of WNBA players were former MVPs Yolanda Griffith and Lauren Jackson in 2021 and the high-scoring duo of Katie Smith and Tina Thompson in 2018.
Jackson and Griffith, both in the top 13 in ESPN’s ranking of the WNBA top 25, come closest to matching the top-end talent of this year’s group. But all three members of this year’s class ranked ahead of Griffith, Smith, and Thompson.
Arguably the strongest classes before this year predated the WNBA. In 1993, the Hall recognized UCLA legend Ann Meyers, the first woman to sign with an NBA team, as well as Soviet star Uljana Semjonova. Two years later, USC superstar Cheryl Miller was joined in the 1995 class by Old Dominion standout Anne Donovan.
As the WNBA grows, we can expect larger Hall classes that could mirror the men, who typically number three to four and have featured as many as six players in a year. Still, it could be a while until the timing lines up for a group as decorated as this year’s class.
Originally Written by: Kevin Pelton
