While attending the 2023 NCAA women’s Final Four, amid an electric atmosphere that would soon tip into national conversation, Nneka Ogwumike thought: Now this is different. That weekend in Dallas saw Caitlin Clark and Iowa pitted against Angel Reese and LSU. And it set up the WNBA for explosive growth a year later.
The league changed on almost every level in 2024. Just ask Ogwumike. With the Storm, the 13-year veteran forward was named an All-Star for the ninth time in her career, while moonlighting as the president of the WNBA Players’ Association, a job she’s held since ’16. In all that time, she never imagined playing in a league that looked as it did last season. Ogwumike has steered her fellow players through a variety of challenges—but never one as exhilarating as this.
The highly anticipated 2024 draft class brought record viewership and attendance, and the WNBA’s surge in popularity resulted in some major wins for its players, such as the introduction of charter flights. Rookie of the Year Clark attracted unprecedented media hype and converted it into ratings and merchandise sales. But all of that growth came with growing pains, Ogwumike notes, with the intense spotlight bringing new security concerns and ugly discourse.
In October, the union decided to opt out of its collective bargaining agreement with the WNBA, choosing instead to renegotiate in the wake of the league’s new 11-year media rights deal worth $2.2 billion. With the current CBA now set to expire at the end of the 2025 season, Ogwumike and the rest of the WNBPA have their sights set on higher salaries, better long-term benefits, improved facilities and making sure this boom isn’t just a moment, but a chance for lasting progress.
Sports Illustrated: What did the growth of last season feel like for someone who’s been here as long as you have?
Nneka Ogwumike: I have more of an attitude of, like, Welcome, y’all, hey, what’s up? The water’s warm. There are a lot of different emotions. I know, especially for the players, every experience with this growth was not positive. And I like to attribute that to being the growing pains of something that is really taking off. But I lean heavily on things that are to be celebrated, to be discovered, to be curious about and to be built off of. So a lot of my emotions were around not just the excitement of bringing in new faces, but also the pride in engaging with those who have been with us for so long, and then ultimately everyone coming in and recognizing that we all have a hand in this growth.
SI: You mentioned the growing pains of this year. What were some of the biggest challenges?
NO: I think the biggest challenge for me—truly the pains of growing—were a lot of new followers and different cohorts that came into something that we’ve cherished for so long, something that we’ve respected and admired for so long, and understanding that [increased popularity is] not all pretty. I really hate hearing stories about players having to deal with—I mean, “hecklers” would be putting it lightly. There’s a lot of harassment that players have had to deal with. It doesn’t matter who you’re a fan of. It was experienced across the board. But most certainly by a lot of these Black women who ultimately are the foundation of this league. And so I don’t hope—I expect, because that’s the only thing we can do—for things to not just get better, but also for there to be more respect, for there to be more education, perhaps more curiosity and less hate.
SI: As the conversations around the league got bigger, as those new voices got more involved, was there anything you felt was being missed?
NO: I think there are always stories that can be told. This is something that I’ve noticed and have been more vocal about since I joined. I think ensuring there’s a diversity in storytelling, and just heralding players who are doing awesome, I think it’s important for us to not miss those things as players. We try to do our best to be on the right side of things, or at least acknowledge when something is happening. And I see the league growing in that way. But I do feel as though there’s always a point of emphasis there, when it comes to just facing things head-on, and with integrity and transparency, in a way that I think that the players really do appreciate.
SI: Did you feel like the league was prepared to navigate that change?
NO: I don’t think anybody was. I think we all had been anticipating growth, and for it to happen in the way that it did in this past year, I’m not sure that anybody was ready. And so of course, we’re making sure that we can get things done, stay true to who we are, while also addressing and preparing and being ready for whatever comes our way. It’s really no knock. I think that these are great problems to be talking about. But I also think that it yields more learning opportunities.
SI: And what did the process feel like for you?
NO: I don’t like to panic when things start to change. I like to observe and see how things are going. But I feel like the pivot kind of occurred the year before that. Being at that Final Four, and seeing what that environment was like, and slowly experiencing that at the professional level—it wasn’t necessarily a jolt. But I did feel as though, once you started playing games live, you’re realizing, like, Oh, man, it’s loud in here, I can’t hear anything. And getting the [charter flights] and being able to sleep in your own bed. The night after playing in Atlanta, I’m sleeping in my bed in Seattle—that’s something I definitely had to get used to.
I think I went from feeling overly prepared for any scenario to now being able to relax a little bit and focus on playing. With so many of these changes—and being able to engage with fans and share in the celebration and the love of the sport—also came resources like the practice facility that I get to play in and how we get to travel. It’s not just the experience. It’s the vitality of what we do. We’re able to perform at a level that maintains this excitement that we’re seeing come in.
SI: How did that change the conversations you’ve had as a union leader this year?
NO: You know, there’s more hanging in the balance, relative to the time that we’re playing in. And so conversations with different athletes have been mostly about being smart, knowing that we have options, ensuring that we capitalize on the options that we do know we have, and maintaining our collective collaboration and the vision toward what we want. And my conversations have changed because the composition of the league is very different now. I’m serving my third term, and I was very young in the beginning, still almost looking up to those players that I was representing. Now [at 34] I’m older than almost all of the players and have had such an experience playing and also being a part of the executive committee and the players’ union, I feel as though I can maybe impart a little bit more advice and a little bit more guidance. I kind of view it as passing the torch. I’m not playing forever—that’s the reality. And I want to be able to leave things better than when I entered it.
SI: How do you feel that you’ve grown as a leader in those eight-plus years?
NO: I definitely lean into a kind of servant leadership. It’s who I am. I’m a Cancer sign. I’m an oldest daughter in a Nigerian family. (Laughs.) There’s no escaping how I help and I nurture, but I think that I’ve tried to also lean on that for myself, helping and nurturing myself, whether it’s educating myself a little bit more, or understanding that there’s really no boundaries on who you can learn from. I learn a lot from different athletes in this league, different women in this league. They don’t have to be older than me, they don’t have to be more experienced. There’s a lot to say when I’m able to have conversations that yield information or experiences that I don’t personally have. I think that’s kind of the beauty of why we’re able to mobilize the way we do in the W.
SI: You mentioned the idea of more hanging in the balance here, of having a lot of options and needing to capitalize. How are you thinking about leverage and power heading into these negotiations?
NO: I feel like it’s time to stand on business. You find yourself in different positions, not randomly, not by chance. I think that the time is now and we are here. And to not take advantage of that … it would be a disservice to ourselves, to the league, to the union, to the history, to the future of women’s basketball.
SI: How do you set priorities for a negotiation as big as this one?
NO: It’s definitely not me who does it.
There’s a team for a reason. We have a phenomenal staff with the Players’ Association, we have an amazing board of advisers, and so a lot of what we do is teamwork. That’s where the communication comes in. That’s where asking questions of players, asking for ideas, pitching anything they feel can make this league and their experience, and the experience of those to come, even better, and also those who have played. What the players say is what’s priority.
SI: Is there anything that stands out as particularly important here or anything that you really want to make sure that you all can address at the table?
NO: We’re still kind of in the early stages. It’s no secret that salary and compensation is something that’s very important, especially as we continue to see expansion of teams and also as we continue to see so many people aspiring to play in this league. This is touted as the best league in the world. And so making sure that people are paid in a way that reflects their value has always been a priority, and that hasn’t changed.
SI: So much is in flux right now. You have a huge cohort of players coming up in free agency next year, you have teams building new practice facilities, you had a slew of coaching and front office changes this year. How do you think about what the future looks like both as a player and as a leader who’s trying to chart a course?
NO: I’m a very optimistic person. I’m very idealistic, I guess you could say, and so I feel like the future is blindingly bright, honestly. I mean, I’m 13 years in, and I’ve now played in what I can say is a home, at our practice facility, and I’ve flown charter—I never imagined that would happen, let alone while I was playing, you know? And so these indications, to me, show that what we’ve always been feeling from the inside is finally coming to fruition. I envision us being able to play only in the WNBA and not having to supplement incomes. I envision athletes from other countries aspiring to come and play and have careers in the WNBA, perhaps only the WNBA. There’s so much that can, and I think will, happen. And I really feel like we’re just on the cusp of it.
SI: What does it feel like to see those possibilities open up, or at least have the timeline speed up, in a way that might have seemed unthinkable five years ago when the last CBA was signed?
NO: It feels amazing, you know? It feels surreal, but it’s not. I’m also trying to make sure that I occupy this space of, Yeah, this was supposed to happen, and not one out of fear that it will disappear. I’m someone who always wants sustainable change, and I hope those who are also contributing to this change understand that we want this to last a long time, and the feeling of it happening and it staying, I think, is that of “yes, and.”
SI: And how do you think about ambition in that context? You want this to be sustainable, you want to make sure this is going to last, but you can also dream much bigger than you could a few years ago.
NO: I think when you’re in an industry like sport, and specifically women’s sports, I’m not sure if enough should be in our vocabulary. I think you always shoot for the stars. You can never shoot too high. And I say that with the confidence that we exist as a cohort of women who understand the business to the degree that we can negotiate and aspire and strive for things that make sense. Things that make sense today, that make sense for us, that make sense to build off of in the future, and right now—nothing is enough right now.
SI: What else do you want people to know about the league right now?
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nneka Ogwumike Wants to Make the WNBA’s Moment Last.
