"She's step ahead of everybody": Sue Bird picks $422,685 star as favorite to win it all in $200k 1-on-1 tournament 

Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe have segued from their careers as professional athletes into the podcasting world, talking about the state of women's sports in the United States. On their most recent episode of A Touch More, the two dove into the Unrivaled's 1-on-1 tournament, offering their picks to win it. Bird picked Skylar Diggins-Smith to take home the $200k award as her winner.

Sue Bird is a legend in the WNBA world, winning four championships and earning All-Star nods over her 20 year career. Now Bird shares her opinions on women's sports alongside her fiancé Megan Rapinoe, a former National Women's Soccer League and U.S. Women's National Team star. Both have spearheaded efforts to bring change to women's athletics, fighting for equity and fair pay.

On their February 13th episode of A Touch More, Sue Bird had high praise for Skylar Diggins-Smith's preparation as she got ready to take on her next matchup, 2025 WNBA All-Star Arike Ogunbowale.

"Right now, strategically, she's a step ahead of everybody," said Bird about her former teammate. "We were just talking about it, so something tells me she's gonna be studying her next opponent..."

Bird never played with Skylar Diggins-Smith on the Seattle Storm, however she spoke highly of Diggins-Smith's competitiveness, saying:

"She's probably already, like, watching film and figuring it out," Bird said about what she expects from her former teammate.

Diggins-Smith, who is in the middle of a two year, $422,685 contract with the Seattle Storm, lost to Ogunbowale in the second round of the tournament 12-8, but she could rest easy knowing that she lost to the potential champion. Ogunbowale is the favorite to win the tournament heading into her semifinal against Aaliyah Edwards.

Sue Bird is surprised at the chaos of the 1-on1 tournament so far

Sue Bird went on to talk about Breanna Stewart's shocking blowout loss to Aaliyah Edwards in the first round of the tournament. Stewart, another former teammate of Bird in Seattle, was the number one overall seed in the tournament and one of the favorites to win it when the tournament started.

Bird called the 12-0 shutout "surprising", but pointed out that because of injuries to players that resulted in a decent number backing out of the 1-on-1 tournament, the matchup between Stewart and Edwards came a bit prematurely.