How Nneka Ogwumike, WNBA players union president and Seattle Storm star, remains 'a steady, constant force' in her dual roles

Yahoo

18 hours ago

CHICAGO — Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike is a little busy right now.
She's one of the stars of her team, leading Seattle as it fights for a top seed in the second half of this season. She's also president of the WNBA players union amid a historic fight to negotiate a CBA that capitalizes on the game's growth.
Each job is demanding in its own way, but Ogwumike, a 10-time All-Star and 2016 league MVP, is finding balance on the two battlefields.
'I think everything's connected. Yeah, I really do. I can't really necessarily give you, you know, a cause and effect, but I try my best to stay locked in and all the roles that I possess,' Ogwumike told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. 'And so being in CBA negotiations and also being on the court at the same time, it definitely motivates me to prove that the product on the court deserves more value."
Storm head coach Noelle Quinn said that Ogwumike is handling the balance beautifully, which she saw up close in Indianapolis during All-Star Weekend.
'She represents so much for the players, you know what that means in her presidential role, but also in this time frame, it's something that's going to happen that's monumental that she's kind of helping architect, which is, in my opinion, super dope,' Quinn said before Thursday's win over the Sky. 'But also, the other day, she comes off of All-Star [scoring 22] points and trying to will us to win. She puts her mind and her body in a place to perform. And so, in my opinion, both worlds are existing, but each are its own entity, and she handles it with grace.'
The Storm are in fourth place in the league, a half-game in front of the Atlanta Dream. They lost their first game out of the All-Star break, 87-63, to the Dallas Wings on Tuesday, but they dominated the Sky in Chicago on Thursday night, 95-57. Ogwumike scored 10 points in 20 minutes on the court as bench players had the chance to shine.
Rookie Dominique Malonga earned her first double-double in the win over the Sky, and she spoke about how she has learned from Ogwumike.
'From my point of view, Nneka is just the best," Malonga said. "I mean, I couldn't hope to have a better [vet] than her, I just need to watch her, not even talk to her, just watching her and how she just practice every day, her routine, how she is just so disciplined."
Filling these different roles isn't easy. Ogwumike has been union president since 2016, but said she learned how to stay more balanced in 2020, when the last CBA was signed. That year, the WNBA went into the 'Wubble' to stay healthy during the first year of the pandemic, and they were there during the "Black Lives Matter" protests. Players across the league looked to Ogwumike for leadership, but that also took its toll, teaching her lessons that steeled her for this year's fight.
'After kind of diving head first in the deep end with that, I realized that there was a balance that I needed to achieve to be able to continue to compete at the same level that I want to so now it's, I wouldn't really say that the pressure is as much, especially because we've we've grown to a point where we have a robust executive committee and PA staff, and we even have advisors,' she said. 'And the way that we come out of [previous collective bargaining agreements in] 2016 and 2020 is allowing us to operate more fully, and for everyone to lead in their own way. So that support that I get from all of these amazing women really does help.'
Ogwumike and the union are advocating for a transformative CBA that will allow the players to share in the growth the league has experienced. The WNBA will add five more teams over the next five years, with the three newest franchises paying an expansion fee of $250 million. The league also recently signed expanded media rights deals with ESPN that will bring in $200 million per year.
While players with max contracts can earn nearly $250,000, rookies earn $78,000 in their first year, and the veteran minimum is $78,831.
As teammates in Seattle, Skylar Diggins has been close to Ogwumike for years. Diggins said that players put their trust in Ogwumike because they know the work she is doing.
'I'm never surprised," Diggins said. "I'm always impressed, with just how much she shoulders, how much she carries, on a day to day basis, what she's dealing with, remembering when we went through the bubble we were talking about that, not knowing if we'd even have a W, you know, and Nneka was a huge, essential part in that, and we've just thrived under her leadership.
'I always talk about her being a steady, constant force, and she came in the league, and it's not just on the court, off the court. What she brings to the table has the respect of all the players in the league, knowing that she's fighting for our best interest."
Young stars of the league like Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers were in the room for negotiations at the All-Star Game, and after players left that meeting unhappy, they banded together to wear shirts during pregame warmups that read, "Pay Us What You Owe Us."
That engagement inspires Ogwumike, who hopes she can pass on the presidential hat one day.
'I'm not playing forever, and I'm not going to be president forever," she said. "One of my biggest goals was to develop an engagement in our player union to where you didn't have to constantly remind people, 'Hey, check this. Check that.' Rather, we are taking in a lot of the feedback that the players are getting because they're so locked in. I feel like that's where we are right now and then through that engagement now comes perhaps people being motivated and inspired to be real active members of the union, whether it's on the player reps in the CBA committee, on the executive committee, and to see younger players do that, I feel like we're in the best spot, because this is their future.'