Chiney Ogwumike has been a trailblazer in both sports and media.
Ten years after being drafted as the No. 1 pick in the WNBA by the Connecticut Sun, Ogwumike has had numerous opportunities to reflect on her illustrious career, which began at Stanford University. According to her Stanford profile, she held the title of all-time leading scorer by the end of her time there. Her collegiate achievements include:
Pac-10 All-Freshman Team (2011)
Pac-10 Freshman of the Year (2011)
Pac-12 Tournament MVP (2013)
3x Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year
In October 2024, Ogwumike was inducted into Stanford Athletics’ Hall of Fame.
Embracing It All
Although talented in sports, Ogwumike initially dreamed of a career in politics and even considered becoming a lawyer.
“I always loved politics. As a kid, my family would always catch me watching the news, not like cartoons. I was a super nerd,” she told AFROTECH™ in an interview.
In college, she studied international relations, with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as her academic advisor. Her primary specialization was in comparative international governance, with a secondary focus on Africa.
“I’ve always been passionate about my identity and heritage,” said Ogwumike, who was born in Texas to Nigerian parents.
Opting to play in the WNBA, Ogwumike realized her life path didn’t have to be linear. She discovered she could excel in multiple areas and make a meaningful impact in each.
“Sports sort of became this accelerator, this vehicle to be able to make an impact,” she mentioned to AFROTECH™. “But then I was just like, I got a daily life where I gotta ball. I got a daily life where I gotta show up in the studio. So, finding ways to merge my passions with my purpose has been this super sweet spot… It’s just been super cool to see that happen just by the power of pursuing opportunities no matter what they are.”
Since that time, she has worn multiple hats, including WNBA Rookie of the Year (2014), two-time WNBA All-Star (2014, 2018), and, as of 2023, a member of the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States, per the Houston Chronicle. She has also become a major figure in sports broadcasting through her current role at ESPN, where she contributes to shows like “NBA Countdown,” “NBA Today,” “WNBA Countdown,” “First Take,” and “SportsCenter.”
Making History Again Under Multi-Year ESPN Deal
Ogwumike made history in 2018 when she became the first full-time professional athlete to work as a full-time analyst at the same time, as reported by the Houston Chronicle.
She is breaking new ground again with a multi-year deal with ESPN announced in October 2024 and described as “one of the most lucrative broadcasting deals of any former female professional athlete,” according to information shared with AFROTECH™.
Under this expanded role, Ogwumike will work full-time on both “WNBA Countdown” and “NBA Countdown,” becoming the first female broadcaster to take on both shows.
“To make history, to me, is just a testament to those who do the work and just grind and know that they’re going to make an impact. Impact comes in so many different ways and forms,” she explained to AFROTECH™. “Oftentimes, in society, you tend to move with pop culture and hot takes. But honestly, I think there’s this huge shift where people respect the game, and the game comes in many different forms. For me, it’s respecting that women are ballers too, that women can ball too. This role is an embodiment of that.”
She added, “I can speak on the NBA, I can speak on the WNBA. I can speak on women’s college basketball. I can speak on culture and life and the intersection of so much because I have the lived experience, too. And to be able to align with people who believe in my voice and believe in disrupting spaces for the betterment of us, to me, it’s just really cool.”
Ogwumike also acknowledges the changemakers who have inspired her journey in sports media, such as Doris Burke, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame broadcaster and lead NBA analyst at ESPN and ABC. Burke along with fellow ESPN broadcasters Andraya Carter and Cari Champion are women who remind her of her worth in the industry.
“As women, we always feel like there’s only one chair in the room for us,” Ogwumike said. “That makes us want to be more competitive and makes us want to protect what we have because we don’t know if it’s going to be taken. We are way more powerful when we’re collaborative. I’ve had a lot of women at ESPN and not at ESPN who have passed through and said, ‘Chiney, this is what I make. Make sure they don’t give you a dollar less because I see what you’re doing, and that’s what you deserve.’”
She added, “I’ve worked for almost 10 years. I’ve grinded; my family knows this, my friends know this, and it paid off. For all those women who are doing the same, I want you to know that this is what you deserve. Don’t let anybody tell you that you deserve anything less. That’s why we made the decision to share. Now they can’t go below that. To me, that’s what changes the game for us.”
