Sue Bird said she's tempted to play one more WNBA season after checking out her team's sparkling new arena

• WNBA icon Sue Bird joined Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN's Monday Night Football broadcast.
• The Seattle Storm point guard has not yet officially decided whether she'll retire this offseason.

One of WNBA's best ever is mulling over retirement this offseason.

Sue Bird - a five-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time WNBA champion, and the league's all-time assists leader - may have played her final professional basketball game in September when Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury ousted her Seattle Storm from this year's playoffs.

Now 41 years old, Bird has previously acknowledged that 2021 could very well have been her final season in the pros. But on Monday, she hinted that she may go on to play one more season.

In a conversation with Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN's Monday Night Football broadcast, the elder quarterbacking brother asked Bird to share her mindset surrounding the speculation about her looming retirement decision, which he conceded is probably "not one of your favorite subjects."

"No, it's not," Bird said with a laugh. "...I don't know. Luckily our free agency doesn't start for a while, so I get some time to think."

But then she started to open up about that thought process. Bird said visiting Climate Pledge Arena - Seattle's sparkling new facility that the Storm will call home next year - made it "tempting" to return for one last hurrah.

"We just opened a new arena here in Seattle," Bird said. "I happened to be in there the other day for the opening Kraken game. And it was tempting - the thoughts of playing there were very tempting."

"I'll leave you with that," she added with a smile.

Check out the full exchange below:

-Meredith Cash (@mercash22) October 26, 2021