Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike first picked up a basketball by happenstance.
Their first sport was actually gymnastics, they tell TODAY.com in a joint interview, and their mom, Ify Ogwumike, had a colleague who questioned that choice.
"It started as gymnastics and then her colleague was like, 'Why gymnastics? Your girls are tall. Try basketball,'" Chiney Ogwumike, 31, who's listed at 6 feet, 3 inches tall, says. "That's how we fell into basketball. It was literally a colleague that cared, that came to our gymnastics practice and was like, 'Put them in basketball.'"
Chiney Ogwumike, the younger of the two, started playing basketball around age 9, and Nneka Ogwumike later followed suit. They went on to play for Stanford on full-ride scholarships and currently play for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.
Nneka Ogwumike, 33, an eight-time All-Star, is serving her third term as president of the players' union. Chiney Ogwumike was recently sworn in to serve on President Biden's advisory council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States.
"When we started playing basketball, we didn't quite know what it would offer," Nneka Ogwumike says. "It was a whole world that we were just completely unfamiliar with."
The power duo tell TODAY.com more about their journeys below.
'Oh, you can pay for school?'
The sisters' parents moved from Nigeria to the United States and ended up attending Weber State University in Utah. Their dad, Peter Ogwumike, accepted a job in Houston at what is now HP, they say. Their mom has been in education for 30 years and is now an assistant school district superintendent.
The sisters say they long felt connected to their Nigerian heritage even though they were born and raised in the Houston area. Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, has the largest Nigerian population of any county in the country, according to 2020 Census data.
"Houston has become, I guess you could say, this little Lagos," Chiney Ogwumike says. "So even though they're far from home, we were able to find community."
The Ogwumike parents have four girls, all of whom went on to play Division I basketball: Nneka Ogwumike and Chiney Ogwumike at Stanford, and Erica Ogwumike and Olivia Ogwumike at Rice University.
"There's a through line in all of us, but we all kind of ended up doing our own thing, and I love it," Nneka Ogwumike said of her siblings. "Supporting that is really important because our parents raised us to be collaborative and be teammates instead of competitive. So we've never been a, 'Oh, Chiney did that? Oh, I'm going to do this!' We've always just been like, 'Girl, can I come along!' We just love celebrating each other and I think it's also what contributes to how we achieve what we achieve."
Playing at the collegiate level was not the original plan for Nneka Ogwumike and Chiney Ogwumike, they say, noting that they first viewed basketball as an extracurricular activity to help them become well rounded as high-achieving academic students.
"And eventually, once we started getting better, now all of a sudden we're getting letters in the mail," Nneka Ogwumike says. "And we're like, 'Oh, what does that mean?' And they're like, 'Oh, you can pay for school with that.' And that's when it really translated."
We've never been a, 'Oh, Chiney did that? Oh, I'm going to do this!' We've always just been like, 'Girl, can I come along!' We just love celebrating each other and I think it's also what contributes to how we achieve what we achieve."
Nneka ogwumike
Chiney Ogwumike chimes in, "'Oh, you can pay for school?' We're going to the best."
They both ended up attending Stanford, independent of each other's decision, the sisters say. Nneka Ogwumike started at the California school in 2008 and her sister joined two years later.
"We come from the same family, were raised the same way, but we still had different journeys that ended up landing us in the same place," Nneka Ogwumike says.
While at the athletic and academic powerhouse, Nneka Ogwumike played in 145 games, scored 2,491 career points and graduated with a degree in psychology. Chiney Ogwumike played in the same number of games, put up 2,737 career points and earned her degree in international relations.
When figuring out their postgraduation plans, Chiney Ogwumike says there were cultural considerations that impacted their decision.
"We (are) Nigerian," she says. "You could put a ball in a basket, but are you going to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer?"
'I think you should think about this WNBA'
Nneka Ogwumike was pre-med in college and well on her way to becoming a doctor.
"Let me tell you: Nneka was not even trying to get drafted," Chiney Ogwumike says, laughing throughout the story.
"It was halfway through her senior year and I'm like the little sister that's on the message boards reading everything," she recalls. "Nneka's like, 'Uh, I think I want to be a doctor.' I was like, 'Nneka, hold on. They're saying you're going to go No. 1.' We literally had to convince you: I think you should think about this WNBA."
"It was funny," Nneka Ogwumike says.
The Los Angeles Sparks selected Nneka Ogwumike as the No. 1 pick in the 2012 WNBA draft. Chiney Ogwumike was the No. 1 pick of the 2014 draft, selected by the Connecticut Sun. She joined the Sparks in 2019.
Chiney Ogwumike says as she convinced her sister to declare for the draft, their parents came around to basketball as a career.
“I think in the middle of all that, our parents love that we play,” Chiney Ogwumike says. “We love that we play, but I think at the end of the day we’re two young girls that are nerds, that love our culture, and basketball just happens to be what we do. It’s not who we are."
And they do it well.
Nneka Ogwumike was named the WNBA's Rookie of the Year in 2012 and Most Valuable Player in 2016. She helped the Sparks win the league title in 2016 and has numerous other accolades. She also led negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement in 2020, winning pay raises, fully paid maternity leaves, better travel accommodations and more for players. She regularly speaks on various panels about pay equity and growing the league.
Chiney Ogwumike is a two-time WNBA All-Star who was named Rookie of the Year in 2014 and The Associated Press' Comeback Player of the Year for 2016. She also works for ESPN as a basketball analyst and host. She currently serves on Biden's African Diaspora Engagement advisory council "to reinforce cultural, social, political, and economic ties between the U.S. and Africa, and promote trade, investment, and educational exchanges between the United States and Africa," the White House's website says.
Growing the WNBA
The WNBA is currently in its offseason, when players commonly go overseas and play on teams there.
But the ongoing Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, plus tension between China and the United States, have complicated plans that had previously been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, Nneka Ogwumike says.
Brittney Griner's detainment in Russia in 2022 and former WNBA draft pick Mikalya Cowling reportedly being attacked last month while in Poland, where she was playing, has only added to safety concerns.
At the same time, Nneka Ogwumike says many players rely on compensation they receive from playing overseas to financially sustain themselves. Nneka Ogwumike and Chiney Ogwumike have both previously played overseas.
"With the pandemic and wars going on, it's really making it difficult for players to decide between life and dream," Nneka Ogwumike says. "It's sad that the choice is so dangerous. It's not that it wasn't before. I guess it's that with the rise of women's sports, with the investment in women's sports, you just want to see something to where that doesn't feel like it's a necessity and I think right now, it still feels like a bit of a necessity for players."
The president of the players' union says with the fluctuation of available teams and markets overseas, she hopes the WNBA doubles down on making more opportunities available in the United States.
"It's difficult to see a long-term future in (overseas) for players that really want to play in the W," she says. "I do anticipate there being more of an option to just play at home and stay at home and make salary and compensation that is somewhat equitable to what we see over there."
The WNBA announced on Oct. 5 it is adding a new team in San Francisco, the first new franchise to join the league since 2008. The team will start playing in 2025.
The expansion brings the WNBA up to 13 teams total. The odd number is uncommon in professional sports, as it impacts the number of matchups. The NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL each have an even number of teams at 30 (NBA and MLB) and 32 (NFL and NHL), respectively.
Chiney Ogwumike predicts that the odd number of teams in the WNBA won't last.
"Fourteen has to happen," she says. "It has to. ... I heard things about Toronto, Nashville, Philly. I personally see a lot of good in potentially Toronto just because it seems like they have very similar connections to what made San Francisco go. To me, if I had to pick, Toronto's looking like they're really pursuing this opportunity, but people thought it was Portland not too long ago."
In the meantime, the sisters currently have their own personal goals.
Nneka Ogwumike is experimenting with baking without a recipe. And Chiney Ogwumike is engaged and planning her wedding.
Is the older sister baking the cake for her little sister's wedding? Stay tuned.
