WNBA legends Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi will grace the cover of NBA 2K23, the iconic video game franchise

• WNBA legends Diana Taurasi and Sue Bird are two of the cover athletes for NBA 2K23.
• The Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm superstar guards are the faces of this year's WNBA Edition.
• "A woman's basketball player in a game, on a cover, it just normalizes it all," Bird told Insider.

There are few things Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi have yet to achieve in their legendary basketball careers.

And as of today, they've ticked yet another milestone off the list.

The WNBA superstars and best friends will grace the cover of NBA 2K23 for this year's WNBA Edition. Taurasi and Bird will be just the second and third women featured on the face of the iconic video game franchise — fellow league legend Candace Parker broke the virtual glass ceiling last year.

Both halves of the dynamic duo know that there's "all kinds of meaning tied up into" the honor.

"This is huge because this is the type of thing that, in subtle ways, helps change narratives and conversations," Bird told Insider. "It just makes it normal. A woman's basketball player in a game, on a cover, it just normalizes it all. In 10 years, it won't even be a big deal, which is a good thing."

"There are so many kids that dream of pursuing a professional basketball career, and they can now also dream of being on the NBA 2K cover, whether they want to play in the NBA or WNBA," Taurasi added in a statement.

Bird recalled moments throughout her own childhood in Syosset, New York, when she'd head to Toys "R" Us to buy games for her Nintendo NES. She "remember[s] vividly" that "what you saw in those covers had meaning."

"I remember seeing different athletes on covers or being used in the gaming world, and that was back then, but it's memorable," Bird said. "And so that's the more subtle [impact] where you're just seeing it in passing, but it resonates."

Several decades and an illustrious basketball career later, the WNBA's all-time assists leader can feel the momentum shifting in how society regards female athletes. Women featuring prominently on a video game cover is just one manifestation of that turning tide, she said.

"The timing has struck now for women's basketball, for the WNBA, to get the credit it deserves," Bird said, "to be honored in the way that it deserves, to be looked at as a legitimately good brand of basketball."

But beyond the large-scale societal impact of the NBA 2K cover, the four-time WNBA champion described the personal significance of the honor. After 19 seasons in the WNBA — all of which were spent with the Seattle Storm — Bird is set to retire at the end of the 2022 campaign.

Though she's not a fan of "the whole farewell tour" often given to sports legends like herself after they announce their retirement intentions, Bird says this NBA 2K23 WNBA Edition cover is "one way of being celebrated that I'll get to take with me forever."

"Clearly this was going to be my last opportunity for this to happen, so I'm really excited, honored that it did happen," she said, adding: "It really was a true no-brainer... and I got to do it with the homie, so that's fun too."

Her "homie," of course, is Taurasi — the WNBA's all-time leading scorer whose friendship with Bird dates back to their college days with Geno Auriemma's UConn Huskies. Since then, the pair have won a record five Olympic gold medals with Team USA and enjoyed countless grudge matches between their rival WNBA franchises.

Taurasi and Bird have long been two of the most idolized women's basketball stars on the planet, and they've long used their platforms to fight for equal opportunities for girls and women in sports. NBA 2K is helping further their cause by donating $100,000 to Every Kid Sports. The national nonprofit — which is devoted to making youth sports accessible to all regardless of socioeconomic status — will use the donation to cover youth basketball registration fees for more than 550 girls from low-income households.

"Obviously there's a huge dropout rate for a variety of reasons... so it's just a way to make sure that little girls have the opportunity to play," Bird said. "It's a wonderful, wonderful partnership. It's amazing that NBA 2K is doing this.

"By putting us on the cover, they're able to celebrate this current generation, what's happening now in the WNBA," Bird added. "But with this partnership with Every Kid Sports, it's also a way to help the younger generations make sure they have the opportunity to maybe be on the cover one day themselves."

The NBA 2K23 WNBA Edition featuring Bird and Taurasi will be available for purchase exclusively at GameStop. Fans can pre-order the game beginning Thursday, July 7.