Sue Bird Responds to Draymond Green's 'Unfortunate' Comments on Women's Sports: 'He Could've Hit Me Up'

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Sue Bird is addressing NBA player Draymond Green's recent remarks about women's sports.

On Friday, during the Team USA Tokyo Olympics Media Summit with fellow WNBA stars A'ja Wilson and Nneka Ogwumike as well as Team USA women's basketball coach Dawn Staley, Bird spoke with PEOPLE about NBA star Green's 12 tweets regarding the pay gap in sports and his argument that female athletes have to build better platforms for themselves. (Green had tagged Bird in one of his tweets.)

"I think, simply put, the world, America, our country is catching up to us. We've already been here, we've already been doing the basketball thing. We've already had that product. It's already been what it is, which is great. I think, in terms of what we stand for in terms of social justice, we've been doing this. That's what I mean when I say the world just caught up with us. They're just seeing it now, it's always been there," said four-time gold medalist Bird, 40, who co-founded TOGETHXR, a media brand that elevates women's voices and tells their stories.

"As it pertains to Draymond, to be honest, the sad part is that he does have a platform. He had every chance to really get in the nuance of this conversation because a lot of these conversations around women's sports lives in the nuance. There are reasons why the investments are the way it is, the media coverage is the way it is. It's not as simple as, 'Oh they don't have revenue.' That's actually the easy way out," Bird explains.

"So what was unfortunate was that, with all the resources that he does have, he didn't have those conversations with the people he tagged. He could've hit me up, he could've hit all of us up. ... Because again, his platform allows people to jump on the 'they don't have the revenue' train. That's just not what it is," the Seattle Storm star says.

In his initial tweets, Green wrote that female athletes should be making "these huge companies commit money to y'all cause. That's empowering! Or don't yell women empowerment." He also said that he'd been asked to film PSAs about women's empowerment but had declined because the brands "are not putting their money where their mouth is." He asserted to Bird, Ogwumike and the other women tagged, "Call on this companies to support y'all."

"I see his points," Bird tells PEOPLE. "His point is: why is company X going to capitalize on talking about women during Women's History Month but not put the money where the mouth is and support women's sports or the WNBA or individuals, whatever the case may be. I see his point, he just tagged the wrong people. He should've been tagging those companies. He should be having those conversations with the companies who endorse him."

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Bird, looking at her fifth Olympic appearance, could head to Tokyo with hopeful Wilson, 24, who stars on the Las Vegas Aces and won a gold medal at the 2018 FIBA World Cup, and Ogwumike, 30, who plays for the Los Angeles Sparks, serves as president of the WNBA Players Association and won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 FIBA World Cups.

Staley, a three-time Olympic gold medalist who led the South Carolina Gamecocks to the 2017 NCAA women's national championship, was named head coach of the USA Basketball Women's National Team from 2017 through 2020.

RELATED: Megan Rapinoe Pinches Herself When Thinking About 'How Lucky' She Is to Share Life with Sue Bird

On Wednesday, during the summit, Bird's fiancée Megan Rapinoe reacted to Green's tweets, telling reporters: "That's frustrating that's the take you have. You obviously showed your whole ass in not even understanding what we all talk about all the time, WNBA players and us on the national team. … You don't think we asked for more money? I mean, what are we screaming about? Nonstop!"

On Thursday night, Green responded to Rapinoe's comments, explaining that his recent statements about women's sports were "extremely misconstrued."

"I think it's unfortunate that she thinks it's unfortunate that that's my view. At the end of the day, what Megan wants and what I want is the same thing. And if she believes that doing something a certain way gets her to the end goal, I'm all for that. And if I believe doing something a certain way gets to the end goal, I'm all for that," the Golden State Warriors forward said. "So if we can both do something to move the needle to get to the end goal, great. I have no complaints with whatever it is that she wants to do or any woman athlete. Or anyone that's trying to help drive their cause and what they want to be done. It doesn't really matter to me how you get there. What does matter to me is that we get there."

On March 24, Rapinoe delivered a speech at the White House in which she discussed her teammates' years-long fight for equal pay both within U.S. soccer and across the world — including their March 2019 class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The White House appearance, which took place on Equal Pay Day, was proceeded by Rapinoe's testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

The Tokyo Olympics are currently scheduled to take place from July 23 through Aug. 8, 2021.

To learn more about all the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, visit TeamUSA.org. Watch the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics this summer on NBC.