Nneka Ogwumike is a 10-time WNBA All-Star and one in all girls’s basketball’s most gifted gamers.
However lately, the veteran’s identify has turn into nearly as synonymous together with her work off the ground as her success on it. Ogwumike, who has been the president of the WNBA gamers’ union since 2016, has spent the offseason spearheading negotiations for a brand new collective bargaining settlement — negotiations that threaten to bleed into the start of the WNBA season, which is at present set to start on Might eighth.
Because it at present stands, the gamers and possession haven’t seen eye to eye on a slew of points, together with income sharing and housing, and either side stay at a standstill. And with the WNBA on the heels of a number of of its most extremely rated seasons, and two new skilled groups set to hitch this Spring, Ogwumnike mirrored on the simple enormity of the second.
“It undoubtedly doesn’t really feel informal,” Ogwumike instructed SB Nation in a telephone interview from the Ladies’s Management Summit on the Hilton Grand Holidays Match of Champions, the place she was a featured speaker. “I don’t suppose that something we do ever feels informal, however we really feel just like the second is there — we really feel like we’re in that historic second. And that is definitely a type of conditions. I’m very grateful to even be part of the league and the expansion that we’re experiencing at this time. And to have the ability to negotiate my worth in one thing that’s rising in valuation is phenomenal, particularly being a small a part of the framework and the muse that makes it what it’s at this time — and what it may be past.”
How Nneka Ogwumike balances life withunion management
Via the CBA negotiations, Ogwumike hasn’t overpassed the principle factor: her enjoying profession. Whereas she is at present deep within the WNBA offseason, she works out for 3 to 4 hours each morning, and subsequently dives into her wide-ranging duties as WNBPA President.
“Each day isn’t the identical, however there’s communication about CBA negotiations, at the least for me, each single day —whether or not it’s our workers, our council, our govt committee, our participant management board, and even particular person gamers,” she mentioned.
It helps that Ogwumike is just not main negotiations alone; completely different gamers play completely different roles, and the union’s management consists of gamers like Kelsey Plum, Elizabeth Williams, Brianna Turner, Alysha Clark, Napheesa Collier, and Breanna Stewart.
That — coupled together with her earlier expertise efficiently negotiating the 2020 CBA — definitely helps.
“I’m not doing any of this on my own,” she mentioned. “And, now being in a second negotiation as president, it’s not something that you simply ever really determine, however I do suppose that you simply’re in a position to area extra assist in several methods. You’re in a position to perceive that there’s function in what you do.”
Juggling her each day exercises and WNBPA duties has been one thing she’s lengthy been doing: “It’s nonetheless an ongoing course of,” Ogwumike mentioned with a smile. “I don’t ever actually determine it out.”
She has realized, nevertheless, to set boundaries. Only some choose ‘favorited’ contacts can contact her instantly: “One factor that I realized from the previous was I don’t simply essentially make myself out there 24/7.”
Nonetheless, it’s a precedence for Ogwumike to make sure that she has a direct line of communication with all the league’s 140+ gamers. That’s additionally probably the most difficult a part of the job.
“The toughest half for me is guaranteeing that each participant seems like they’ve a relationship with me,” she mentioned. “Now, granted, it’s not essentially a actuality that I’m going to be shut with everybody, however I do wish to guarantee that each participant seems like they’ll method me, even when I’m not in a position to get to them. So it’s not essentially laborious, however it undoubtedly takes extra effort and time to make sure that that’s how gamers really feel.”
Nneka Ogwumike’s perspective on how CBA negotiations have gone
Ogwumike smiled when requested how CBA negotiations have gone between WNBA management and the gamers’ union.
“I really feel like we’re exercising some wonderful endurance, and I really feel like we’re unified in that, and we’re unified in our messaging and our priorities and what we would like to have the ability to negotiate,” she mentioned. “Popping out of this, there are issues that we aren’t compromising on, however we nonetheless additionally perceive the facet of negotiating in good religion. And so, that’s one thing that we’re going to proceed to do.”
And, she made clear that although an imminent deal is a precedence, what’s most vital is the deal’s substance.
“Ideally, this is able to have gotten executed a bit bit earlier, however we would like deal, moderately than one which’s executed in a vogue that fits a schedule,” she mentioned. “And so we’re wanting ahead to having the ability to come out of this happy with what we’ve negotiated, happy with the method, whereas additionally wanting ahead to having a season. Our gamers wish to play, we wish to play, however we additionally wish to be valued on the courtroom — and that’s one thing that we’re negotiating for at this time.”
You may suppose Ogwumike seems like the burden of the world is on her shoulders.
However the actuality is that she’s largely full of gratitude for the truth that she and her fellow gamers are on this place.
And, she’s optimistic {that a} decision is coming.
“We’re enjoying in a league that folks dreamed of, and we wish to proceed to create a league that we’re dreaming of at this time,” Ogwumike mentioned. “And so, I’m simply very grateful. I don’t suppose that it ever actually seems like stress. I believe it seems like motivation, inspiration, and loads of dedication, particularly while you’re in it each day with these phenomenal girls. And I’m wanting ahead to seeing one other historic second for us.”
