Chiney Ogwumike is the rare ESPN on-air talent with prominent assignments across both women’s basketball and the NBA — and those assignments are going to continue for the next four years.
ESPN will announce later today that Ogwumike has signed a multi-year extension to remain with the company. Her deal is for four years.
“I came into this environment as a young athlete and this might sound silly but I saw it as a place of opportunity, a place where I knew I could make an impact because my point of view was not really that available,” said Ogwumike, who joined ESPN in 2017 to co-anchor SportsCenter across Africa and as a part-time WNBA and NBA in-studio analyst, and one year later became one of the only full-time professional athletes to hold a full-time national sports media position. “It felt like family and it’s the home for the NBA and the NBA Finals, the WNBA, women’s college basketball and March Madness. To be where the main event is, and to have a part of shaping narratives, telling stories and advocating for players, to be able to show my joy for everything that comes from basketball which has transformed my life, I feel like I am of service in this space.”
As part of her new deal, Ogwumike’s assignments will include studio analysis for the NBA, WNBA and women’s college basketball. She will be part of ESPN NBA Countdown, NBA Today, WNBA Countdown, NCAA Championship in The Studio, as well as Get Up, First Take and SportsCenter. She will also host NBA Today on select days. Ogwumike was part of a breakout studio group during the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, alongside Elle Duncan and Andraya Carter (and later joined by Carolyn Peck), that received critical and fan acclaim.
Ogwumike said she feels proud to be part of a transcendent moment for women’s sports in the U.S. and credited Dave Roberts, an ESPN executive editor of sports news and entertainment, for giving her assignments on First Take when she was an active player in the WNBA. Prior to being named to his current role, Roberts led ESPN’s NBA and WNBA production and pushed Ogwumike and other women to get prominent assignments in basketball.
“He spotted me early on and advocated for me,” Ogwumike said. “He told me when you’re done playing basketball, I need you on the desk in the WNBA. I think I established myself in the NBA, but I was able to come back home to women’s basketball. There’s so many people that believe in women’s basketball here, from [ESPN chairman] Jimmy Pitaro to [Disney boss] Bob Iger.”
As a player at Stanford, Ogwumike helped lead the Cardinal to three Final Fours before becoming the first overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft. Her WNBA accolades include the winning league’s Rookie of the Year in 2014 and two All-Star appearances (2014, 2018). Her older sister, Nneka Ogwumike, remains a star player in the league as well as the president of the WNBA Players Association (WNBPA).
At 32, with a multi-year media deal with ESPN, Ogwumike has not formally retired from basketball but admits her professional playing career is likely over.
“I don’t think I will return to basketball in the WNBA,” Ogwumike said. “The only thing that sort of weighs on my heart is potentially playing with the Nigerian women’s national team in an Olympics. If there’s an opportunity that is not conflicting with my (ESPN) contract, that is what my heart I telling me. It would have to be in the middle of a time where there’s no basketball. But right now I’m just comfy with where I’m at.”
(Photo of Chiney Ogwumike: Mike Lawrie / Getty Images)
