Chiney Ogwumike has inked a new contract extension with ESPN. The deal makes her the first female broadcaster to work full-time across NBA Countdown and WNBA Countdown.
She joins the show to discuss her work at ESPN, the WNBA Finals, and the league’s growth.
Chiney 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 stated during the announcement that Ogwumike’s multi-year extension deal is for four years.
Chiney Ogwumike joined ESPN in 2017 to co-anchor SportsCenter across Africa and as a part-time WNBA and NBA in-studio analyst.
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After a year, she became one of the only full-time professional athletes to hold a full-time national sports media position.
Chiney Ogwumike stated at the time “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.”
“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 in 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 host NBA Today on select days.
She will also be part of ESPN NBA Countdown, NBA Today, WNBA Countdown, NCAA Championship in The Studio, as well as Get Up, First Take, and SportsCenter.
Chiney was part of a breakout studio group during the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Chiney Ogwumike said she feels proud to be part of a transcendent moment for women’s sports in the U.S.
She credited Dave Roberts, an ESPN executive editor of sports news and entertainment, for giving her the opportunity on First Take when she was still an active player in the WNBA.
Dave Roberts led ESPN’s NBA and WNBA production and pushed Ogwumike and other women to get prominent assignments in basketball.
Ogwumike said,I think I established myself in the NBA, but he helped her to be able to come back home to women’s basketball.
She went on to say: “He spotted me early on and advocated for me.”
“He told me when you’re done playing basketball, I need you on the desk in the WNBA. There’s so many people that believe in women’s basketball here, from (ESPN chairman) Jimmy Pitaro to (Disney boss) Bob Iger.”
Ogwumike helped lead the Cardinals to three Final Fours as a player at Stanford before becoming the first overall pick in the 2014 WNBA Draft.
Her WNBA accolades include winning the league’s Rookie of the Year in 2014 and two All-Star appearances in 2014 and 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 conflict with my ESPN contract, that is what my heart is telling me.
It would have to be in the middle of a time when there’s no basketball. But right now I’m just comfy with where I’m at.”
