When I met Chiney Ogwumike at the PlayersTV Honors Awards Ceremony in San Francisco, she immediately complimented my outfit. A true “girl’s girl” as they like to say, after a few moments of discourse about affordable fashion and where we like to shop, I immediately knew who she was—attentive, warm, and genuinely invested in connecting with people.
As a two-time WNBA All-Star and one of ESPN’s most prominent female sports analysts, Ogwumike was being honored with a trailblazer award that night, yet you would think she was the one doing the interviewing.
“It’s a great honor because what’s cool is that we all know each other. And we all root for each other and we’re all friends,” Ogwumike said about being recognized alongside her peers. “To be here and be celebrated for what makes us unique, what makes us different, but also that has harnessed our superpowers, it’s super cool.”
Ogwumike’s journey to becoming a sports broadcasting powerhouse wasn’t something she initially planned. The former first overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft has managed to build simultaneous careers as both a professional athlete with the Los Angeles Sparks and as a broadcaster—a rare accomplishment in the sports world.
“For me as a broadcaster, I never thought I would be in broadcasting,” she admitted. “But the fact that there are more opportunities for women, for women that look like me, who have the same aspirations like me, and to be on the early end of it, knowing how hard it was, it just makes it more fulfilling to be able to be that role model to the next generation and to see the transformation happen in real time.”
This transformation in women’s sports has been impossible to ignore. Look, Black women are killing it in just about every genre, and the past few years have seen unprecedented growth in viewership, investment, and general public interest in women’s athletics—particularly in basketball. The WNBA’s cultural relevance has expanded beyond the court, with players becoming household names and powerful voices in both sports and society.
When I asked Ogwumike about what she thinks the next five years look like for the WNBA and women’s sports in general, her excitement was palpable.
“I think continued unprecedented growth,” she said confidently. “What’s crazy, the best way I can describe it is that a lot of people are coming to women’s basketball because they’re looking for a fresh take on the game. And they’re also looking for women that are honoring the game and respecting the game.”
For Ogwumike, this moment represents both vindication and opportunity. Women in basketball have long known their worth, even when the broader sports culture failed to recognize it.
“The biggest thing about women’s basketball is we’ve known what our magic is. We’ve known our secret sauce, we fought for it, we’ve advocated for it,” she explained. “But now that’s built us to a point where we are unapologetically ourselves. So it doesn’t matter which arena we step into, we know we can perform.”
This confidence extends beyond the court and into the broadcast booth, where Ogwumike has established herself as an authoritative voice in basketball analysis. As one of the few Black women in prominent sports broadcasting roles, she’s opened doors while simultaneously proving her expertise night after night.
“Anytime a women’s basketball player is playing, they’re going to bring it. Anytime I’m going to talk about the game, I’m going to bring it,” she said. “There’s that collective hustle that has made me excited.”
Born to Nigerian parents and raised in Texas with her sister Nneka (also a WNBA star), Ogwumike’s path has been marked by excellence at every turn. From starting at Stanford University, where she was the consensus national Player of the Year, to becoming the first Black woman to host a national radio show for ESPN, her career has consistently broken barriers.
But Ogwumike is far from finished. When I asked about her dreams for the future, she didn’t hesitate.
“I want my own show,” she said. “I want to be able to have my own voice, talk about my own stories.”
Her vision goes beyond traditional sports programming, aiming instead for a platform that reflects the full spectrum of her interests and experiences.
“I would love my own platform to talk about the intersection of everything that we love. Sports brings people together, pop culture, music, entertainment. But of course, the game is the game, and that’s the core of it,” she explained.
For Ogwumike, this dream represents something bigger than personal ambition. It’s about creating space for discussions that too often go unheard in mainstream sports media. She points out a glaring gap in current programming.
“Women’s basketball, we don’t have a show on ESPN. You know, we’re just now getting the real estate so that we can show people what we can do,” she noted.
When I jokingly suggested a potential collaboration with Issa Rae, Ogwumike lit up at the possibility before expanding on her ultimate vision: a platform that tackles substantive issues alongside sports.
“Talking about the important things in life, what we’re going through as Black women in America, what we’re trying to do as young female entrepreneurs,” she said. “I think there’s so many different people that I have had access to learn from.”
Despite her Stanford education and growing influence in media, Ogwumike acknowledged that realizing this dream hasn’t been easy. “I’ve been working on it, y’all, but something won’t let me be great. Some people are trying to block the blessings,” she said with a laugh. “But it’s like I’m still persistent about creating a platform where I can do that for the next generation.”
In a landscape where female athletes are finally receiving long-overdue recognition, her voice—thoughtful, authentic, and unapologetic—represents not just where women’s basketball is now, but where it’s headed next. She put it best, “For the next few years, I’m excited to see people continue to fall in love with this, something that we have known, but it’s allowed us to reintroduce ourselves.”