“Nneka, Nneka, Nneka!”

Fans' voices echoed as Nneka Ogwumike stood in the center of Crypto.com arena after her final game in the WNBA.

“I feel like I might get more words later, but I just want to say you guys have really changed my life,” Ogwumike said, holding back tears.

The 2016 WNBA MVP, Finals MVP and Champion, 11-time All-Star, eight-time All-WNBA and seven-time All Defensive Team selection finished her WNBA career with the fourth-most points in league history. 

But her accolades extended far beyond the court.

Ogwumike has served as the president of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) since 2016, navigating the league through two historic Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) in 2020 and 2026.

“I guess what really impacted me, it's certainly the relationships that I've been able to build, especially being the president (of the WNBPA) and having that role and how I've been able to engage with players on a different level,” Ogwumike said after her final game. “For me, that was probably the most surprising aspect of having that role. And then, especially in this last CBA, I really found some true sisters in these last few negotiations.”

Her first CBA negotiated saw significant increases in cash compensation, tripled compensation for top players, higher quality of travel—including better seats on flights—alongside additional improvements through the league.

“I guess what really impacted me, it's certainly the relationships that I've been able to build, especially being the president (of the WNBPA) and having that role and how I've been able to engage with players on a different level. For me, that was probably the most surprising aspect of having that role. And then, especially in this last CBA, I really found some true sisters in these last few negotiations.”

Nneka Ogwumike

Despite the 2020 CBA originally being planned to last through 2027, due to the significant growth of the league in recent years, Ogwumike and the WNBPA worked with the league to make even more monumental changes in 2026.

After 17 months of negotiation, including 100 hours of negotiation over eight straight days, the league and the WNBPA came to an agreement in March. 

The salary cap jumped from $1.5 million in 2025 to $7 million per team starting with the 2026 season, with supermax contracts reaching a minimum of $1.4 million, a large difference from the $249,244 in 2025. The average salary for players quintupled from $120,000 in 2025 to $600,000. 

With Ogwumike at the helm, the WNBPA was able to greatly improve the pay and continue to grow the game for the next generation.

“I saw how big her impact there was, which is arguably more because she's changing the future of so many players as well,” WNBPA Vice President Napheesa Collier said. “Just her leadership as president for so many years. We know that she not only cares but is so well-educated in these topics, too. She invests the time in all of this, and we're happy to follow her. She's someone that you could be proud to call your president.”

Ogwumike didn’t just raise the bar off the court. Her consistency and leadership on the court set a standard difficult to match.

Drafted first overall out of Stanford in 2012, she met—and exceeded—the expectations set for her, winning Rookie of the Year. Her stats peaked in 2016, where she won the WNBA MVP en route to the Sparks first championship since the 2002 season.

In 2024, she left LA to spend two seasons in Seattle before returning to the city she was drafted to for her final campaign.

“I feel like being around Nneka, it's just like consistency,” said Ogwumike’s teammate Rae Burrell. “And anytime she says anything, listen, because she's just so knowledgeable and so caring for the people around her as well. It's once in a lifetime where you can really play with somebody like that, you know? I was trying to soak it in as much as possible.”

And although her career may not have ended as she had pictured it, with the Sparks finishing the year 16-28, her fight and consistency is something that will carry on.

In her final game, it looked as though she was going to have a storybook ending. She opened the Sparks scoring and helped the team take a 35-26 lead entering halftime against the No. 2 Valkyries.

But a surging comeback followed by a missed Ogwumike free throw–one she apologized for in her post game speech—allowed the Valkyries to take what would have been her one last hurrah as a player.

Ogwumike’s legacy extends far beyond a missed free throw in her final game. She leaves a lasting impact on so many aspects of the game, shoes that will never quite be filled.

“She is a tireless warrior, but she does it with such dignity and grace,” sportscaster Holly Rowe said. “And I think she is going to be remembered as one of the greats. Nneka Ogwumike will be remembered for how incredible she was on the court, and that is saying a lot, but even more so for her leadership, composure and poise of who she’s been as the president of the Players Association and how she has helped navigate this league through some of its most difficult times.”