Lauren Jackson, Sue Bird are Seattle's dynamic duo

Storm stars Lauren Jackson and Sue Bird rival coffee and morning traffic as Seattle fixtures. Bird is the java — an addictive, perky jolt.

Jackson is traffic — something you hope to beat, but can't.

The Seattle icons begin their ninth season together at 6 p.m. Sunday when the Storm opens the WNBA season against Los Angeles at KeyArena.

"They are bound by their commitment to this team, to this city, and their unwavering loyalty and respect for each other," said Storm CEO Karen Bryant, who has been with the organization since its inception in 2000. "I don't think any of us could really appreciate it, but if you were there in the beginning you started to think about what could be when you have a combination like that."

It's difficult to quantify the duo's place in the Seattle sports landscape. Maybe the combination of Seahawks quarterback Jim Zorn and Hall of Fame receiver Steve Largent is the closest comparison.

Zorn and Largent played together the first nine seasons of the Seahawks' existence, and comparing Jackson and Bird to the Seahawks heroes might raise some eyebrows.

But consider their story, which started nine years ago with a groggy Australian and a reserved New Yorker meeting in the Lake Washington High School gym.

First sight

Jackson, who turned pro at age 16, had been taken by the Storm with the No. 1 pick in 2001 after Seattle finished a league-worst 6-26 in its first season.

She helped the Storm improve to 10-22. The Storm didn't have the league's worst record, but lucked out in the WNBA's first draft lottery and won the first pick in 2002.

"Maybe I had my lucky underwear on that day, I'm not sure," said Lin Dunn, the Storm's first coach.

Bird, who had teamed with Swin Cash to lead Connecticut to an undefeated season, was the choice.

At their first practice together, Jackson — jet-lagged from travel and not familiar with American college basketball — spotted Storm player Adia Barnes and thought she was Bird.

Bird, however, recognized Jackson, familiar with her international play.

Jackson, dressed in slouchy sweats, extended a hand after Dunn made the correct introductions.

"Oh, I've heard some great things about you, can't wait to play with you," Jackson told Bird.

Bird, with her signature ponytail and dimpled smile, responded similarly.

"See you tomorrow," she concluded.

"Shockingly she was late to training camp," Bird said teasingly of the memory.

The electricity was saved for the court. Dubbed the WNBA's Karl Malone and John Stockton, Jackson and Bird immediately made the pick and roll their staple. Bird showed an ability to score, like the night her rookie season when she tallied 33. But she was comfortable kicking the ball to Jackson, and watching her let 'em fly.

Both were named to the All-Star team in 2002 and the Storm advanced to postseason for the first time in franchise history. The Storm was swept by nemesis Los Angeles in the opening round, but fans and the duo saw what could be.

"You look at it as a gift that you have the opportunity to play with this great player," Stockton said of starring with Malone in Utah for 18 seasons. "I have seen Sue play and I am a fan of hers. She's a tough player and clever.

"She's unselfish, yet she's not afraid to take the lead when necessary."

Inside the duo

It wasn't until 2003 that Bird and Jackson clicked off the court the way Stockton did with Malone.

Stockton and Malone met at the 1984 Olympic trials. There were no other seats available, so they sat by each other with Charles Barkley and began talking — immediately connecting.

Stockton was drafted by the Jazz in 1984 and Malone was taken a year later.

"We picked up where we left off," Stockton said.

Bird, transplanted about as far away as she could get from her Long Island roots, had a bland routine as a rookie: Practice. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Add a game for spice.

Jackson, who was just 21 during the 2002 season, her second with the Storm, was shy, and homesick.

The breakthrough came in 2003 when Jackson discovered the Kangaroo & Kiwi Pub near Green Lake and invited Bird. There, the Storm duo connected over meatpie dinners and competitive games of pool.

They're strikingly different, however, other than the common traits of fierce loyalty and a guarded approach with strangers.

The relationship could be described as sisterly.

Jackson moans in disgust when Bird talks about Connecticut's dominance in college hoops, and snickers as Bird shows a reporter her "two faces" — the result of a broken nose during the Storm's 2004 WNBA championship run.

One side of her nose shows a bump, the other is a smooth slope.

"I'm not vain, there really is!" Bird said. "I have trouble sleeping."

Bird is slow to zing Jackson back, making light fun of Jackson's constant traipsing down memory lane whenever something — music, food, smells — remind her of the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra.

If Jackson doubts she's an elite player because of an off night, Bird is there with the confidence boost.

Then there are all the times they've leaned on each other through personal adversities.

"They are very black and white, but the beauty of that is they can come and find that gray area and they're best of friends," said Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi, who played and lived for three seasons with both in Russia, winning the EuroLeague title each year. "Once you get to know them you see Sue is not going to step on anyone's toes but is a character and Lauren is a little bit more outspoken — not in volume, but she's big-time."

They've been through so much together, it was weird they were separated the past seven months as Jackson rehabilitated her back in Australia instead of playing in Russia where Bird had returned to play, despite grieving club owner Shabtai von Kalmanovich's death.

The accomplishments

What really makes Bird and Jackson Seattle icons is their combined accomplishments.

They have been the faces of the Storm since 2002. In a rarity in sports, both have vowed to retire in Seattle.

Zorn and Largent helped create Seattle's following for the NFL, but neither of them won an MVP award, as Jackson did in 2003 and 2007. And they never took the Seahawks to the Super Bowl, while Jackson and Bird delivered a WNBA title in 2004.

The Storm has missed the postseason only once (2003) since the pair connected, and the league title was the first Seattle pro championship since the Sonics won the NBA crown in 1979.

In addition to owning all meaningful Storm records, they are perennial All-Stars, were named to the WNBA's All-Decade team and are the reason free agents from Sheryl Swoopes to Svetlana Abrosimova beg coach Brian Agler to sign them. Heck, even Agler came to Seattle because of Bird and Jackson.

The only downer is that after eight years, the past five have ended in first-round playoff exits — two stemming from injuries to key players, including Jackson's ankle and back problems.

Not that Jackson and Bird have been the problem in the first-round exits.

"Not when you're talking about Sue Bird and Lauren Jackson, you want to go to the grave with that," said former Louisiana State coach Pokey Chatman, who led their Russian team. "It's not a situation of too long together, it's just that when the lights were turned on and it was the playoffs, Lauren was injured and Sue's role changed. That's a heavy burden."

And some great players never win one championship.

Like Stockton and Malone.

"Those pieces are very hard to find," Stockton said of getting an Olympic point guard and power forward on the same roster. "We (Utah) came close. Is it frustrating to lose and not get a chance? Yes and no. It's not something that grates on me. We had wonderful times and a wonderful experience. I loved it and trying to find ways to get it done even if people did think we needed something else."

It was the journey. A path still being paved in Seattle.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com