Nneka Ogwumike ’12 announced last Wednesday that she will be retiring from the WNBA at the end of the 2026 season, concluding her 15-season career.
The Stanford alum, dubbed “Madame President” by the WNBA’s players and fan community, is one of the league’s most accomplished players, having been named to the All-Star team 11 times, the All-WNBA 1st Team once, the All-WNBA 2nd Team twice, the All-Defensive Team three times and winning both an MVP award and WNBA Championship in 2016.
Ogwumike played under coach Tara Vanderveer at Stanford from 2009-2012. During that stint, the forward was the Pac-12 Player of the Year twice and led the Cardinal to the Final Four in all four of her years with the team. She averaged 19.9 points, 9.4 rebounds and shot 56.8 percent from the field in her three seasons at The Farm. She was drafted No. 1 to the Los Angeles Sparks in 2012 and won Rookie of the Year.
“I’m doing it on my terms,” Ogwumike told Boardroom’s Taylor Rooks in an exclusive interview last Wednesday. “I feel very content with where I’ve left my career…I feel very content about what we were able to achieve coming into this season; where we see the league today.”
Ogwumike was referring to her role in negotiating the WNBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement, which nearly quintupled the league’s salary cap and raised average player salaries to almost $600,000 (four times the estimated 2025 figure), among other monumental changes.
She has served as the Women’s National Basketball Players Association’s president since 2016, demonstrating a commitment to basketball much larger than herself. The outpouring of love from the league that followed her announcement testified to her contributions.
It must be said that Ogwumike could very well keep going in the WNBA until the wheels fall off. So far this season, after her return to the Sparks, she is averaging 16.7 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, earning her her 11th All-Star nod at 36 years old.
“I feel very good…but I also feel the comfort of slowing down,” Ogwumike said. “I have poured as much as I could into this game, and the last bit is this year of playing.”
The former Cardinal signed with the Sparks this past season in a move that looked to many as if it would guarantee the legacy franchise a spot in the playoffs. Ogwumike was joining a roster complete with fellow Stanford alum Cameron Brink ’24 and four-time All-Star Kelsey Plum, who was dealt to the Phoenix Mercury ahead of the August trade deadline. Instead, Los Angeles has struggled greatly, sitting at 12th in league standings already eliminated from playoff contention.
Ogwumike still plans to suit up for Project B — a new international women’s basketball league — in January, according to ESPN.
Madame President only has eight more games to close out her legendary career, and given the shocking nature of her announcement, no teams have been able to celebrate her the way she deserves throughout the season. Tributes will no doubt follow in the coming weeks, especially by the Seattle Storm, a franchise with which she spent the previous two years of her career.
Ogwumike will be eligible to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2029, and will undoubtedly be a first-ballot entry. Her mark on the game simply cannot be overstated, and the WNBA community will miss her presence both on and off the court.