WNBA’s favorite trash talkers
WNBA players in the orange carpet at All-Star weekend share their favorite trash talkers in the league.
Sports Seriously
Nneka Ogwumike can be found in the training room almost as often as she is on the court. Whether it’s pilates — classic pilates, specifically — getting in the water, the hyperbaric chamber or red light therapy, among other things, there are few things the 36-year-old Los Angeles Sparks star is more meticulous about than her recovery routine.
“You have all these different tools,” Ogwumike told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m always somebody who loves tapping into new technology, and then it also doesn’t hurt to have a phenomenal H&P staff, so they help me really get ready for whatever’s next.”
But what can really be considered “next” for Ogwumike at this point? In the last two weeks alone, she’s set the Sparks’ all-time scoring record, got named to her 11th career WNBA All-Star Game — tying Diana Taurasi for second-most nods in league history — and proceeded to drop 11 points to surpass Maya Moore as the all-time leading All-Star scorer.
As USA TODAY Sports put it on Sunday, she’s collecting accolades like infinity stones.
How Nneka Ogwumike became a record-breaking player
“I’ve run out of superlatives for Nneka, and we’re only halfway through the season. She’s unbelievable,” Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts said. “And I knew that record was within sight. I feel like after every game, there’s something that she’s broken record-wise, whether it’s in the league or for the organization. And I’m honored and happy to be a part of her journey through this league and her legacy, it’s an honor to coach her. She’s one of one.”
To play any sport professionally for 14 seasons you are already in rare, elite company, let alone in the W where the average length of a career is 3.5 years. Ogwumike’s been able to not just stay in one of the most competitive leagues there is, but she’s put together one of the most impressive resumes the game has ever seen: 11-time All-Star, eight-time All-WNBA, seven-time All-Defensive, an MVP and championship in 2016. In 2021, she was named as one of the W’s 25 greatest players of all-time.
Ogwumike attributes that unmatched longevity to the support system she’s had throughout her entire career.
Nneka Ogwumike entered the WNBA ready to learn
Drafted by the Sparks out of Stanford with the first overall pick in 2012, Ogwumike was put onto a team that featured seasoned pros like Candace Parker, Kristi Toliver, Alana Beard, DeLisha Milton-Jones and Ebony Hoffman. She was immediately in a situation where she had no shortage of vets to look up to, and made the most of that.
“They just really showed me what it means to be a pro,” Ogwumike said. “And to have longevity, you have to take your recovery seriously, and they loved what they did. They loved the preparation of it all.”
Ogwumike studied her teammates’ habits, first by watching, then by joining in. She began doing the same drills they did, eating the same food, getting the same treatments after practice.
“I guess it just kind of stuck with me,” she said.
The results didn’t take long to show as Ogwumike averaged 14 points per game in 2012, third-most on the team behind only Parker and Toliver. She also finished that rookie campaign second in rebounds (7.5) and blocks (0.9), and third in steals (1.4) and was named Rookie of the Year.
Four years later, Ogwumike helped lead the Sparks to their first WNBA championship since 2002 as the league’s MVP.
Nneka Ogwumike is a bright spot for the struggling Sparks
Ten years later, the Sparks are in a much different place as an organization, but Ogwumike’s still an exceptional player. After a two-year stint in Seattle, she returned to the team that drafted her this offseason on a one-year deal. The vision was to plug in Ogwumike alongside Kelsey Plum and Cameron Brink to bring LA back to its former glory but halfway through the season, that hope has started to fizzle.
The Sparks have struggled through injuries and inconsistent play to a 10-16 record at the All-Star break and sit in sixth place in the Western Conference. Ogwumike, however, has been a bright spot, leading the team in Plum’s extended absence with 17.1 points per night. In the final five games before the All-Star break, she put up double-doubles in four of them.
But maybe the most impressive part of Ogwumike’s longevity isn’t the numbers or the years, but the fact that she’s stayed a consistent force in the W amid its vastly changing landscape.
“We have more games, we have more teams, we have more fans,” Ogwumike told USA TODAY Sports. “We have a lot of these players who are coming in with such a strong fanbase and bridging that gap between the collegiate level and the pro level. And then, there’s a lot more investment.”
How the WNBA has changed since Nneka Ogwumike joined the league
When she was drafted, the average player salary was $72,000 with a total team salary cap of $878,000. In 2026, Ogwumike makes $950,000 and takes up just 13% of the cap, according to Spotrac. That contract was possible thanks in large part to the historic CBA agreed to between the WNBA and WNBPA after 18 months of tense negotiations.
The W has also exploded in popularity; last weekend’s All-Star Game was played in front of a record-breaking audience of 19,783 at the United Center in Chicago. The league has expanded from 12 to 15 teams with the additions of the Golden State Valkyries in 2025 and the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire with future expansion franchises lined up in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia set to begin play by 2030.
With that level of rapid expansion, also comes an expanded schedule. The WNBA played 34 games in 2012, Ogwumike’s rookie year. In 2023, it went up to 40 games and is now at 44. The league has already announced plans for a 50-game schedule in 2027, with the option to extend the season to 52 games in 2029.
So, in every possible sense, the W is bigger than it has ever been. And Ogwumike has managed to stay at the top of it throughout all that.
“She brings a sense, obviously, of confidence,” Roberts said. “But I think the thing that separates her is her poise and intentionality. Everything she does is with intention and purpose. Everybody takes it down a notch, in terms of anxiety or nerves, when she’s around because whatever we’re going through, she’s been through it.”
The Sparks are going to need every bit of Ogwumike’s experience if they want to have any hope of turning their season around in the second half. Reinforcements are set to arrive, with Plum telling reporters at All-Star Weekend that she expects to be back “next week.”
They’ll get their first shot at making a run on Tuesday, July 28 when they host the New York Liberty at Crypto.com Arena. Ogwumike has already accomplished so much in purple and gold, what’s a historic run to make one more playoff push to a player like her?
