Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike helped win the fight for improved terms in US basketball

The basketball sister act that secured breakthrough women’s deal

Chiney and Nneka Ogwumike helped win the fight for improved terms in US basketball

 by Molly McElwee

Sat in the front row of the Good Morning America audience, Chiney Ogwumike was beaming as her sister Nneka took to the stage. Alongside Cathy Engelbert, the Women’s NBA commissioner, and broadcast live to millions across the United States, on Jan 14 Nneka had the pleasure of announcing new league-wide contracts that will change the WNBA, and arguably women’s sport, forever.

But behind the Ogwumikes’ wide smiles is a steely determination and 18 months of work. Nneka and Chiney, who play for the Los Angeles Sparks, were paramount in securing a monumental new collective bargaining agreement in their roles as president and vice-president of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA). While the sisters understand they were “literally writing history” as Nneka puts it, they are keen to add the caveat that this is merely a starting point.

“People were calling this agreement ground-breaking, and as I heard it more and more I realised it wasn’t ground-breaking, but ground-establishing,” Chiney says, emphasising the last word.

Some terms are basic employees’ rights, including better travel conditions and full maternity pay. Others are more innovative and impressive, such as compensation of up to $60,000 (£47,000) in adoption, surrogacy and fertility treatment for veteran players – not to mention improved salaries.

When they opted out of their previous agreement in September 2018, Nneka said they were “not asking for LeBron money” or equal pay yet. But the total salary of all 144 WNBA players was barely a third of the $37 million NBA superstar LeBron James makes alone. To that end, they wangled a WNBA salary cap increase of 30 per cent. On average players will now earn $130,000 in cash compensation, and up to $500,000. The hope is this new financial incentive will lessen the pressure on players to compete in foreign leagues during the off-season. Overseas teams have previously offered up to 10 times WNBA salaries, which attracted the majority of players to compete all year, risking injury and fatigue.

“Though you learn a lot about yourself, after five years you’re like, ‘I can’t do this forever’,” Nneka, who has played in Poland and Russia, says. “Players do this, not always because they want to, but because it’s the best financial security,” Chiney, who instead now works as an ESPN pundit in the off-season, says. “It’s not sustainable, we had to start getting real about what players’ experiences were.”

The Ogwumikes speak with an eloquence and clarity that makes it unsurprising they played a big part in this deal. They are no ordinary sporting siblings: they played college basketball at Stanford University together, both were the No 1 pick at the WNBA draft and both won Rookie of the Year in their first seasons. Chiney, 27, is a two-time All Star; Nneka, 29, a six-time All Star and she was 2016’s Most Valuable Player when she won the league with the Sparks.

They were reunited on the same team in Los Angeles last season and, as on the court, you can imagine them tag-teaming at the negotiating table. Nneka is more softly spoken, but straight-talking; Chiney bounds into our conference call with attention-grabbing energy. A trait they say they share though, is their “relentlessness”, which they picked up during their Texas childhood, as two of four sisters born to Nigerian immigrants. Chiney says their father taught them the importance of male allies, among whom they they counted former LA Laker Kobe Bryant. “Our father was our No 1 example of a male ally. I think similarly in women’s basketball we were just coming to know and appreciate our greatest male ally of all time, and that was Kobe.”

Like their father, Bryant had four daughters, and his advocacy and mentorship for future and current WNBA stars has been celebrated in the wake of his death in January. The five-time NBA champion often sat courtside at games with 13-year-old daughter Gianna, who also aspired to play professionally but perished in the same helicopter accident as her father, along with seven others.

“It hit very deeply for the WNBA because we knew what people are right now only just realising – his relationship with his daughters and his impact for women in sports,” Nneka adds.

The Ogwumikes are keen to credit the rest of the WNBPA executive committee and every player in the league for advancing the game. “Strength in numbers is a real thing, we got all the players [involved],” Nneka says. “It taught me that, if you don’t pull up your seat to the table, you will never know what’s possible.” 

Chiney agrees: “As sisters we were never competitive but always collaborative, and I think female athletes are a great example of this. We’re now being collaborative to completely shake the system, whether US women’s soccer, basketball or gymnastics.” Nneka adds: “Because we all need to hit the finish line, it doesn’t matter who gets there first. What matters is that whoever’s in front keeps running and fighting for what we deserve. Because once we stop, that’s what the world will perceive as how far we can go.” 

The new contracts will run until 2027, so the Ogwumikes can focus on basketball until then, beginning with the start of the WNBA season in May and a potential Olympic debut for Nneka with the US.

After an hour of chat about women’s sport, the sisters exhale in unison, almost relieved, when I ask how happy they are to return exclusively to on-court duties. “That’s a question you know the answer to,” Nneka laughs.