Bird, 41, the Seattle Storm guard, had said she would retire after this season. The Storm fell to the Las Vegas Aces in the W.N.B.A. semifinals on Tuesday.
The former swimmer said it was “like an out-of-body experience” to win seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games and then learn that terrorists had attacked Israelis at the Olympic Village.
Her last match — at the U.S. Open and probably of her career — was a gutsy display of the power and resilience that have kept fans cheering for nearly 30 years.
The mother of Serena and Venus Williams has always been a beacon of calm and grace on the sidelines — even now, in what may be a turning point in her daughters’ lives.