Chiney Ogwumike is a full-time, multi-platform ESPN commentator and forward for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks. Ogwumike’s expansive role across ESPN includes college and professional basketball analysis on various platforms such as NBA Today, SportsCenter, First Take and Get Up, plus Wednesday editions of NBA Countdown. She executive produced the ESPN Films’ documentary “144” on the WNBA’s unprecedented 2020 season and hosts a weekly ESPN Podcast Chiney, which launched in June 2021. From August 2020-September 2021, Ogwumike hosted Chiney and Golic Jr., becoming the first Black woman to host a national, daily sports-talk radio show.

The Texas native of Nigerian descent joined ESPN in 2017 to co-anchor SportsCenter across Africa and served as a part-time WNBA and NBA in-studio analyst. In 2018, she became one of the only full-time professional athletes to hold a full-time national sports media position. Ogwumike regularly appears on SportsCenter, NBA Today, Get Up and First Take. Prior to ESPN, Ogwumike worked as an analyst for Pac-12 Network and NBATV.

The two-time WNBA All-Star (2014, 2018), and current WNBA Players Association (WNBPA) vice president, was the first overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft, coming out of Stanford University, and the league’s Rookie of the Year. Chiney and her sister Nneka Ogwumike joined Peyton and Eli Manning as the only siblings ever selected number one overall in a professional sports league. At Stanford, Ogwumike was a three-time First Team All-American, two-time Pac-12 Player of the Year, three-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, four-time All-Pac 12 First Team, and finalist for multiple national Player of the Year awards, each of the last three seasons. Ogwumike led Stanford to three Final Fours while distinguishing herself in academics, earning multiple honors for her academic success, including the 2014 Capital One Academic All-American of the Year and the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Ogwumike earned gold medals with USA Basketball at the FIBA 3×3 World Championships in August 2012 and with the USA Basketball World University Games team in 2011.

Ogwumike is passionate about giving back and empowering the next generation. She spent the spring of 2013 studying abroad in Nigeria where she successfully raised $30,000 to build a basketball court for underprivileged youth in an effort to break down barriers for girls in sports and instill confidence in the next generation.

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