The WNBA was a different league when the Los Angeles Sparks drafted Nneka Ogwumike as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft.
That the Sparks had the first pick was unexpected; the team had the lowest odds heading into the season. Selecting Ogwumike was a bold move meant to help assist Candace Parker, who joined the team in 2008. The Lynx were Western Conference Champions that season, and the Connecticut Sun won the Eastern Conference. The season saw big moments from Angel McCoughtry and Tina Thompson, and the WNBA took a month-long break during the Summer Olympic Games in London.
Ogwumike, who is still set to play in Project B if and when the league begins games, announced her retirement from the WNBA last month. She plays her final game today, when the Los Angeles Sparks meet the Golden State Valkyries.
Whatever happens today, Ogwumike walks away from the league knowing she absolutely left it better than she found it. As many fans are well aware, she was at the forefront of negotiating and ushering in the most progressive Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) the league has approved to date. She's a leader in other ways, too; countless young girls have been inspired to pick up a basketball and start hooping thanks to her.
Ogwumike has been named MVP and won championships. She's got franchise records, and she tied Diana Taurasi after she was named to her 11th All-Star game. She was made president of the WNBA Players Association in 2016, and she carried that distinction through this season. She is the living embodiment of seeing a problem and then working to change it, and of making sure things are better for those who will come after you.
The nature of professional sports is that players certainly come and go, and even the biggest, most-hyped player can quietly fade away once they're not longer on the court or field consistently. But it's tough to imagine a scenario in which Ogwumike's name isn't spoken, or she even recedes — for starters, her sister, Chiney, is one of ESPN's analysts, and it's possible Nneka could even try her hand at a similar role. Even if she doesn't (and there is absolutely no indication she will), Nneka has just done a little too much for the league — she's worked too hard to make sure the league is secure and will be for years to come.
The WNBA has been lucky Nneka Ogwumike called it home as long as she did.
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