The trio of Sue Bird, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore will be the most dominant class of women’s basketball players to ever enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame when they are enshrined this weekend.
Count them up: 11 Olympic gold medals and 10 WNBA championships.
Add their record-setting milestones, and this group has no equal.
“I think that would be fair to say that they would have the title of best class ever,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “They are each Hall of Famers and are terrific in their own right to the extent they impacted their sport.”
Their 11 Olympic gold medals are more than any other group ever to enter the Hall of Fame. They teamed up to help the U.S. win the 2012 and 2016 Games with Bird also winning golds in 2004, 2008 and 2020. Fowles played with Bird on the 2008 and 2020 teams.
“Put us on a 3x3 team you’d have some problems, we’d be pretty good,” Bird said laughing. “It is pretty special to go in with people who aren’t just amazing players, having impact on and off the court, but these are players that I got to experience life with.”
Moore echoed her Olympic teammate's sentiments.
“That’s absolutely one of my highlights, going in with Syl and Sue," Moore said. “Just players that I had so many positive moments with, but also I know what it’s like to grind things out with them as well. We’ve been battle-tested with each other as well.”
In the WNBA, the trio was part of 10 WNBA championships: Bird walked away with four in Seattle and Moore captured four in Minnesota. Fowles was a big part of Moore's last two with the Lynx.
Bird's career spanned more than two decades as she played 19 seasons as an active player. The WNBA's career assist leader, the 5-foot-9 floor general also finished atop the career list in minutes played, games played and All-Star appearances. She helped the Storm win championships (2004, 2010, 2018, 2020) after being part of two NCAA titles at UConn.
She recently became the first WNBA player ever honored with a statue by her former team.
“To be immortalized with the basketball greats, men and women is really exciting,” said the 44-year-old Bird. “I don’t think I started playing sports to get to this point, but also it's something you’re aware of going through your career. You meet people who are introduced as Hall of Famer. Now to finally get to this point where it’s happening, in a way that is permanent, with these names forever, is really special.”
Fowles finished her career as the WNBA's leading career rebounder before being passed by Tina Charles last season. The 6-foot-6 Fowles was an intimidating force and was a four-time Defensive Player of the Year in the league and earned WNBA Finals MVP honors twice in 2015 and 2017. That same year she also was the league's MVP.
“Relentless,” was how Fowles described her game. “I didn’t talk a lot, but I knew how to get the job done, and it’s not too many people who’s going to stop me at doing that. So I can definitely say I want to be remembered as somebody who’s just relentless.”
Moore remembers how great her teammate was on Minnesota and that Fowles, 39, never seemed to receive the recognition she deserved.
“I want the greater community to be able to honor and to see Syl for who she is and to appreciate how easy she made hard things look,” Moore said. “How long she played at a high level and how just ridiculously unstoppable she was.”
Moore, 36, left the game while she was on top, stepping away before the 2019 season.
She packed quite a career into her eight seasons with the Lynx before walking away to focus on social justice issues and help overturn the wrongful conviction of her now-husband, Jonathan Irons. She helped the Lynx win four championships, earning a league MVP in 2014 and Finals MVP the season before.
At 6-foot and blessed with great athletic ability, Moore was a matchup nightmare. She was first-team all-WNBA for five straight seasons and also is one of two players ever to earn AP All-America honors four times. Like Bird, Moore won two titles in college at UConn before heading to the WNBA.
“I was always going to try to give them my best and just be present and focused and locked in to give you all that I had,” Moore said.
The three will be happy to see each other again this weekend and share in the moment to be honored among the best.
“This obviously is an amazing class. Each of them would be in consideration for the best to ever play their position in the era of the WNBA,” ESPN analyst and Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo said. “Sue without question is one of the best point guards, if not the best. Sylvia is in the conversation for one of the best centers and Maya is one of the best ever as well.”
It’s the first time three WNBA players will enter the Hall of Fame in the same year. Though that might become the norm moving forward, it will be hard for any group to match the accolades of this class.
As a group entering the Hall of Fame, the titles, medals and milestones held by Bird, Moore and Fowles may never be matched.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
FILE - Minnesota Lynx forward Maya Moore (23) and Minnesota Lynx center Sylvia Fowles (34) celebrate after forcing a Washington Mystics timeout during the second half of a WNBA basketball game, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017 in Minneapolis. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP, File)
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Uganda’s presidential election was plagued by widespread delays Thursday in addition to a days-long internet shutdown that has been criticized as an anti-democratic tactic in a country where the president has held office since 1986.
Some polling stations remained closed for up to four hours after the scheduled 7 a.m. start time due to “technical challenges," according to the nation's electoral commission, which asked polling officers to use paper registration records to ensure the difficulties did not “disenfranchise any voter.”
President Yoweri Museveni, 81, faces seven other candidates, including Robert Kyagulanyi, a musician-turned-politician best known as Bobi Wine, who is calling for political change.
The East African country of roughly 45 million people has 21.6 million registered voters. Polls are expected to close at 4 p.m. Thursday, according to the electoral commission. Results are constitutionally required to be announced in 48 hours.
Impatient crowds gathered outside polling stations expressing concerns over the delays Thursday morning. Umaru Mutyaba, a polling agent for a parliamentary candidate, said it was “frustrating” to be waiting outside a station in the capital Kampala.
“We can’t be standing here waiting to vote as if we have nothing else to do," he said.
Wine alleged there was electoral fraud occurring, noting that biometric voter identification machines were not working at polling places and claiming there was “ballot stuffing.”
“Our leaders, including Deputy President for Western Region, arrested. Many of our polling agents and supervisors abducted, and others chased off polling stations,” Wine wrote in a post on social media platform X.
Museveni told journalists he was notfied biometric machines were inoperable at some stations and he supported the electoral body's decision to revert to paper registration records. He did not comment on the allegation of fraud.
Ssemujju Nganda, a prominent opposition figure and lawmaker seeking reelection in Kira municipality, told The Associated Press he had been waiting in line to vote for three hours.
Nganda also noted biometric machines were malfunctioning, in addition to the late arrival of balloting materials, and predicted the delays likely would lead to apathy and low turnout in urban areas where the opposition has substantial support.
"It’s going to be chaos,” he said Thursday morning.
Nicholas Sengoba, an independent analyst and newspaper columnist, said delays to the start of voting in urban, opposition areas favored the ruling party.
Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.
Museveni has served the third-longest term of any African leader and is seeking to extend his rule into a fifth decade. Some critics say removing him through elections remains difficult, but the aging president’s authority has become increasingly dependent on the military led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Museveni and Wine are reprising their rivalry from the previous election in 2021, when Wine appealed to mostly young people in urban areas. With voter turnout of 59%, Wine secured 35% of the ballots against Museveni’s 58%, the president’s smallest vote share since his first electoral campaign three decades ago.
The lead-up to Thursday's election produced concerns about transparency, the possibility of hereditary rule, military interference and opposition strategies to prevent vote tampering at polling stations.
Uganda's internet was shut down Tuesday by the government communications agency, which cited misinformation, electoral fraud and incitement of violence. The shutdown has affected the public and disrupted critical sectors such as banking.
There has been heavy security leading up to voting, including military units deployed on the streets this week.
Amnesty International said security forces are engaging in a “brutal campaign of repression,” citing a Nov. 28 opposition rally in eastern Uganda where the military blocked exits and opened fire on supporters, killing one person.
Museveni urged voters to come out in large numbers during his final rally Tuesday.
“You go and vote, anybody who tries to interfere with your freedom will be crushed. I am telling you this. We are ready to put an end to this indiscipline,” he said.
The national electoral commission chairperson, Simon Byabakama, urged tolerance among Ugandans as they vote.
“Let us keep the peace that we have,” Byabakama said late Wednesday. “Let us be civil. Let us be courteous. Let’s be tolerant. Even if you know that this person does not support (your) candidate, please give him or her room or opportunity to go and exercise his or her constitutional right."
Authorities also suspended the activities of several civic groups during the campaign season. That Group, a prominent media watchdog, closed its office Wednesday after the interior ministry alleged in a letter that the group was involved in activities “prejudicial to the security and laws of Uganda.”
Veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, a four-time presidential candidate, remains in prison after he was charged with treason in February 2025.
Uganda opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, known as Bobi Wine, right, greets election observers, including former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, at his home in Magere village on the outskirts of Kampala, Uganda, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Hajarah Nalwadda)
Billboards of Uganda President and National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni are seen in Kampala, Uganda, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Samson Otieno)
Electoral workers deliver ballot boxes to a polling station during presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Voters are reflected in a police officer's sunglasses as they wait in line after voting failed to start on time due to system failures during presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
Voters wait to cast their ballots during the presidential election in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)
