Having a decorated career in basketball, Nneka Ogwumike is the name that synonymously resonates with excellence. For 12 years, LA had been the home for this WNBA champ, where she set multiple records. In the 2016 WNBA season, Ogwumike set a record for most consecutive field goals tallying 23 field goals in three games. This season, Ogwumike is on the path of redefining her career as last season she ended her tenure with the Sparks. And last night, she had arguably her best game of the season so far. Ahead of the game, though, Ogwumike engaged in a candid conversation with sports analyst LaChina Robinson and firmly declared her intentions.

“I love when people come up to me and they say ‘oh my gosh, we love what you’re doing for the league’ and they talk a lot about like all of the leadership aspects of being a president, but for me sometimes I felt like I was hearing people forget that I can still play, you know and I can still get down. It’s not like I’m trying to prove anything to anybody but I’m out here to play and I’m out here to win,” Ogwumike told Robinson.

In 2016, she was elected President of the WNBA Players Association, and then again in 2019, she was re-elected for the new three-year term. Now playing her 13th season in the league with the Seattle Storm, Nneka Ogwumike recorded 24 points and 13 rebounds in Sunday’s 84-71 win against the Sky. This score is just 2 points shy from her season-high 26-point performance in last month’s 95-79 win against her former team, the LA Sparks. Moreover, she has made it to the All-Star team yet again for the 9th time.

She also spoiled Angel Reese’s special night, where she became the first woman in league history to record 13 consecutive triple-doubles. Despite the change in dynamics this season has brought for Nneka, in terms of playing for another team for the first time, she still likes to maintain the same level of excellence.

Nneka Ogwumike’s love for excellence

Out of 12 WNBA franchises, the Seattle Storm is one of the three teams to have won the WNBA championship for the maximum number of 4 times. As a result, the Storm holds the championship legacy. This has brought a challenge for Ogwumike in terms of managing the expectations from the basketball standpoint.

“So, I want to be able to bring my legacy to that same legacy that is in Seattle and I’m up for the challenge. I want to be great and to do that you have to be around great people. You have to be in a great environment and that’s where I’m at,” she said.

Talking about excellence, Nneka Ogwumike loves to have standards, as she put it, “I love having a barometer of excellence,” for which she gives credit to the way she was nurtured and raised by her family and the opportunities she had to get to different programs that resonated with that standard of excellence, so, that’s all she has ever known.

Hence, her joining forces with Seattle translates to Nneka incorporating her own legacy with the legacy that the Storm proudly holds onto, which is doing wonders for both the team and Nneka herself as the Storm are currently 2nd in the West with a 14-7 record.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the Reese-Clark rivalry and more, watch this video: