Nneka Ogwumike says she is retiring after this season, her 15th, putting an end to one of the most decorated careers in WNBA history.
The 36-year-old eight-time All-WNBA forward, who is back with the Los Angeles Sparks this season after two years in Seattle, announced her intentions Wednesday in an interview with Boardroom Talks.
“I feel very fulfilled with the 15 years that I’ve been able to play and compete at such a high level,” Ogwumike said. “Even though I didn’t know what kind of player that I could be in this league, I never thought that I would play this long. Never thought that would be the type of player that I’d play this long.”
The No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft out of Stanford, Ogwumike earned Rookie of the Year honors that season with Los Angeles. She was voted league MVP in 2016 when she helped lead the Sparks to the WNBA championship.
“Nneka has always led with a rare combination of strength, purpose and grace," former Sparks teammate Alana Beard said. “For 15 seasons, we’ve watched her give everything to this game, not only as an elite competitor but as a leader who has helped shape the league and lift up the people around her.”
Ogwumike this year made the All-Star Game for an 11th time and is averaging nearly 17 points a game.
“It is a little bit my body: I still feel very good,” Ogwumike said. “But I also feel the comfort of slowing down a little bit. I just feel content. I feel very content with where I’ve left my career.”
Ogwumike expressed pride in playing at the same time as the likes of Maya Moore and Tina Thompson, as well as Angel Reese and A'ja Wilson. Along the way, she was named one of the 25 players in the first 25 years of the WNBA and was a seven-time All-Defensive Team selection.
“I just feel like I have poured as much as I could into this game, and the last bit is this year of playing,” Ogwumike said. “I’m proud of what I’ve done.”
Ogwumike in the interview also expressed contentment with the state of women's basketball. WNBPA executive director Terri Carmichael Jackson credited Ogwumike for extraordinary leadership as president of the union, which earlier this year negotiated a transformative collective bargaining agreement.
“She has served this union with a level of commitment, courage, integrity and purpose that is truly unparalleled,” Carmichael Jackson said. “Nneka understood that leadership was not simply about having a seat at the table: It was about using that seat to move the game and the business of the game forward for every player — today and for generations to come.”
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