The Basics
Position: Forward
Current Team: Los Angeles Sparks | #30
Draft: 2012 | Stanford | 1st round (1st overall)
Key Accolades: Rookie of the Year (2012), MVP (2016), All-Star (2013-2015, 2017-2019), All-WNBA (many), All-Defensive Team (frequent), Sportsmanship Award (2019, 2020), Community Assist Award (2018)
WNBA Profile | Stats | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok
The Down Low
Nneka is basketball royalty. A WNBA MVP and champion from a family of basketball stars. Her and her sister Chiney were both number 1 picks, and her other sister Erica was drafted in 2020 as well. Chiney and Nneka now play together on the Sparks, while Erica has opted to go to medical school.
Actually, royalty is not accurate. Although the Ogwumikes look the part, the WNBA is not a monarchy, it's unionized. And Nneka is the President. She's served as the President of the Players' Association since 2016. Notably, she oversaw the negotiation of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2020, which the players were incredibly happy with.
Her role is not limited to the CBA, as she leads throughout the season, like when she guided players' through their decision to postpone three games following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in the summer of 2020. She owns her role as an advocate for her fellow athletes:
What was most important was the solidarity, the unity, the collectiveness of how we've always organized... My role in what I do as president is to lay out the options and make sure everyone understands the implications of the decisions we make, especially if we do it together. … I ride for my players.
You can see why her fellow players adore her. The rest of the world adores her too, but I trust the players' opinions the most.
I don't have enough words for Nneka. There are a bunch of articles on and by her below, I encourage you to read them all.
Notable Quotables
The full video is here.
Highlight Reel
Nneka narrating her #1 career moment:
More on Nneka
- Contributions to the Players' Tribune
- Nneka Ogwumike and the WNBA's Big, Complicated Moment (Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker)
- How Nneka Ogwumike Became Madame President, the Face of the WNBA Players (Sean Hurd, The Undefeated)
- 'We don't do it for the clout': Nneka Ogwumike is fighting for a better WNBA and a better world (Randi Richardson, NBC News)
- Nneka Ogwumike Is a President for the People (Alex Prewitt, Sports Illustrated)
- Nneka Ogwumike on Playing Overseas, What She’s Learned As President of the Players Association, and Being a Stanford Legend (CC Sabathia and Ryan Ruocco, The Ringer)