Four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird has maintained a presence in the sport as a media member, and the basketball legend didn't mince words when giving her opinion on two of the league's top young stars and the media fallout from a heated in-game moment that added fuel to the Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark rivalry.

Bird recently sat down with Bleacher Report and TNT Sports reporter Taylor Rooks to discuss a wide array of topics, including the current state of the WNBA and the discourse surrounding it, and put both new and old W spectators on alert.

“This is not new! All the little, you know, fights or all the little moments where people do the stare down, this has been in our league from the jump,” Bird said emphatically. “This has been in sports from the jump. It's the same for women, and it doesn't have some deeper meaning to it.”

The Hall of Famer called attention to the way the public, and even some others in her field, cover the league she was once a face of.

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“Whether it's fans, whether it's media, myself included, it's that subtle little nuance, that thin thin thin line [that moves the conversation away from focusing on basketball],” Bird started. “Because, sadly, in women's sports, for a lot of reasons, once it does cross over, it's gone. We can't even get it back.”

Bird then elaborated on dealing with those outside the game who cross the line of discussing matters beyond basketball boundaries by tying in her personal experience from playing in the league.

“It's hard to articulate. It's almost like you know it when you see it, but it's hard to articulate,” she continued. “I think a big part of it is people not understanding that our league, the WNBA, is physical, and it's competitive the same way you've watched men's sports be physical and competitive for all these years.”

The five-time gold medalist hosts two podcasts of her own, one with partner Megan Rapinoe called “A Touch More,” where they've touched on the Angel Reese-Caitlin Clark rivalry before, and a brand new solo endeavor focusing on the WNBA named “Bird's Eye View.”