{"id":5644,"date":"2026-08-20T15:13:42","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T15:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5644"},"modified":"2026-08-20T15:13:42","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T15:13:42","slug":"nneka-ogwumikes-wnba-legacy-isnt-just-her-11-all-star-nods-its-a-364-pay-raise-for-the-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=5644","title":{"rendered":"Nneka Ogwumike\u2019s WNBA legacy isn\u2019t just her 11 all-star nods. It\u2019s a 364% pay raise for the players"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI feel good,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t know if excited is the right word, but I feel good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Your next oil change is becoming a bigger part of car dealers\u2019 business as profits cool and service departments make up the difference<\/a><\/p>\n

Ogwumike, 36, was the league\u2019s No. 1 draft pick in 2012 and is currently playing her 15th season. While she may not be a household name outside basketball circles like some of the league\u2019s younger stars are, she\u2019s been a top player over the past decade-and-a-half: an 11-time all-star (the second-most in league history) and 2016 MVP and league champion with the Los Angeles Sparks. She\u2019s part of a pro basketball family; her sister Chiney Ogwumike also played for the Sparks and has become a successful ESPN broadcaster, and sisters Erica and Olivia played in college and went on to play for Nigeria internationally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Her legacy, though, will be as much about what she accomplished off the court as on it. In 2016, Ogwumike became president of the players\u2019 union, known as the WNBPA. She steered the union through securing a major collective-bargaining agreement in 2020 that included historic protections like parental leave. This year, she had to do it again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The WNBA experienced historic growth after the 2024 arrival of a generational rookie class including Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, but player compensation did not keep up. Constant record-setting ticket sales and TV viewership were undermined by growing resentment among everyone from athletes to fans over the players\u2019 salaries; Clark\u2019s rookie pay was just $76,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was Ogwumike who was tasked with turning that discontent into action. As union president, she had to corral a membership that included everyone from veterans who spent years earning salaries in the five figures to 22-year-old NIL millionaires into a cohesive unit able to take on the WNBA (and NBA, which owns much of the WNBA). At times, that united front threatened to fracture, like when stars Breanna Stewart and Kelsey Plum sent a letter outlining concerns with the union\u2019s handling of negotiations. But the end result was a labor agreement that was historic for more than women\u2019s basketball.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With allies in their corner like Nobel-winning economist Claudia Goldin, WNBA players negotiated a 364% raise, the biggest jump in the history of U.S. pro sports. The average player this season is earning $564,000, and WNBA players are now the highest-paid athletes in women\u2019s team sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt took a lot,\u201d Ogwumike reflects. She had to show up as a competitor even while acting as a leader. \u201cI had to manage people not seeing me as president while I\u2019m on the court.\u201d Then there were the toughest moments\u2014like when the union didn\u2019t hear back from the league for six weeks, or when they negotiated until the \u201cwee hours of the morning\u201d in New York and then had to show up to train the next morning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During this year\u2019s training camp\u2014her first back with the Sparks after a two-year stint with the Seattle Storm\u2014Ogwumike realized it was time for her to step back. \u201cI was just thinking about how much this league has grown and the demand on players as it continues to grow,\u201d she recalls. She played through some of the league\u2019s lowest lows, when games were rarely broadcast on TV and when it came close to collapse during the pandemic. \u201cEven though I know I\u2019m up for the challenge, I wasn\u2019t sure I needed to do it for longer than another year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Players respect Ogwumike and, amid dissatisfaction with league leadership, have sometimes called her their own \u201ccommish.\u201d Ogwumike herself has in the past expressed interest in working in the league office, and believes that head office should include more ex-players.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Game-changer\u2019 GLP-1s could fix America\u2019s obesity crisis\u2014but 2 inequalities stand in the way<\/a><\/p>\n

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Now that the reality of such a transition is closer, Ogwumike is less certain. In the near term, she plans to continue to split her time between Houston and L.A. and enjoy control over her own schedule for the first time in 15 years. She\u2019s signed on to play for Project B, a soon-to-launch international league that proposes extending the playing careers of star players (men and women) with exhibition games around the world. Of a job in the league office, she says, \u201cI don\u2019t close doors.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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But Ogwumike is humble about what it might take to start a career as an exec during such a demanding growth period for women\u2019s sports. \u201cI\u2019m not assuming that it\u2019s just going to be a role that is made available or that is given,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t feel as though today I am completely qualified for any type of executive role.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But anyone who watched the WNBA\u2019s tense negotiations can see the skills its union president must have gained: complex stakeholder management, knowledge of the details of the WNBA\u2019s business, communication, high-stakes negotiation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ogwumike says she learned that leading can be \u201ca little less tumultuous\u201d when you \u201cprovide an environment for everyone to share their thoughts.\u201d As president, she tried to be accessible and communicative. She tried to understand where players were coming from: \u201cEveryone just has different lived experiences,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The unpredictable nature of negotiating made her slightly less Type A. \u201cBeing adaptable is incredibly important,\u201d she learned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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She\u2019s announcing her retirement during a rocky moment for the WNBA. The league has continued to sell out games and draw TV viewers this year, but its season threatens to be overshadowed by a culture war. After Indiana Fever player Sophie Cunningham said she opposes the inclusion of trans women and girls in women\u2019s and girls\u2019 sports, the wedge issue took over the WNBA news cycle (even without any actual eligibility questions in the league\u2019s near future) and drew rightwing commentary. Fans are showing up to games wearing t-shirts supporting trans women, and shirts from the XX-XY brand built around excluding trans girls from girls\u2019 sports. \u201cI think ultimately there\u2019s too much good and too much excitement happening in the league for it to be swallowed up by the noise,\u201d Ogwumike says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ogwumike spent tense days sitting across the negotiating table from league execs including WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert. And Engelbert acknowledges her achievements too: \u201cNneka will retire at the end of this season,\u201d she said, \u201cleaving the WNBA much better than she found it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more You are paying for your favorite college athlete now: \u2018the next stage of the arms race\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 11-time WNBA All-Star and longtime players\u2019 union president helped negotiate a historic collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-most-powerful-women"],"yoast_head":"\nNneka Ogwumike\u2019s WNBA legacy isn\u2019t just her 11 all-star nods. 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