SEATTLE (AP) - Sue Bird has long said she hopes to spend her entire WNBA career playing for the Seattle Storm.

Her latest multi-year contract with the franchise, announced on Thursday, brings that closer to reality.

"With this contract, it puts me in a position to do that," Bird said.

The re-signing of Bird and backcourt mate Tanisha Wright, also announced Thursday, keeps together the longest-tenured starting backcourt in the WNBA. The duo has started 117 games together since Seattle took Wright in the 2005 draft.

More importantly from Seattle's perspective, the contract keeps Bird in a Storm uniform for an 11th season and likely beyond.

"There are 11 other teams that would love to have Sue's services for one season or more," Seattle coach Brian Agler said.

Bird was taken with the No. 1 pick in the 2002 draft and with fellow No. 1 pick Lauren Jackson has brought two WNBA titles to Seattle. She is regarded as consistently the best point guard in the league. Bird is coming off a season where she led Seattle in scoring at 14.7 points per game despite playing through a sore right hip that required surgery last September to repair the labrum.

Speaking on a conference call from Russia, where she's currently playing, Bird said she's fully recovered from the hip surgery.

"It's done now, it's one less thing to think about," Bird said of the contract. "I've been very lucky. The Storm organization has always treated me with respect on these type of things. ... It's never been stressful about my contract."

Wright is currently playing in Israel after starting 32 games last season for Seattle and averaging 10.1 points and 3.2 rebounds. Agler said getting his starting backcourt re-signed was the priority in the offseason, especially since Seattle will be without Jackson until after the London Olympics.

(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)