{"id":2372,"date":"2026-05-08T07:29:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T07:29:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2372"},"modified":"2026-05-08T07:29:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T07:29:17","slug":"nneka-ogwumike-returning-to-the-sparks-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2372","title":{"rendered":"Nneka Ogwumike returning to the Sparks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Nneka Ogwumike is coming home.<\/p>\n

The former No. 1 overall pick of the Sparks, who helped lead the franchise to its third WNBA championship, is returning to Los Angeles, Ogwumike announced on social media Friday.<\/p>\n

Read more Sparks\u2019 leading scorer Dearica Hamby back for 4th season<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always see you later, now I\u2019ll see you soon \u2026\u201d the 35-year-old forward wrote in the post, along with videos of some of her highlights from her Sparks tenure.<\/p>\n

The news was actually broken by younger sister Chiney Ogwumike, herself a former member of the Sparks and now an ESPN analyst.<\/p>\n

After being taken first in the 2012 draft, Nneka Ogwumike played 12 seasons for the Sparks. The 6-foot-2 former Stanford star was a model of consistency with 16.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, making eight All-Star teams.<\/p>\n

In 2016, she was named WNBA MVP after averaging 19.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while shooting 52.5% from the field. In nine playoff games that season, she averaged 17.9 points, on 62.5% shooting, and 9.3 rebounds in capturing her first WNBA title.<\/p>\n

After the Sparks went 17-23 in 2023 under first-year head coach Curt Miller and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season, Ogwumike opted to leave for the Seattle Storm via free agency.<\/p>\n

Read more Sparks\u2019 WNBA draft preview: Late picks can help fill out veteran-led roster<\/a><\/p>\n

In two All-Star seasons up north, Ogwumike posted averages of 17.6 points, shooting 51.5%, and 7.3 boards.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Ogwumike, who is president of the WNBA players union during a frenetic offseason in which she helped oversee a radically new collective bargaining agreement with the league, returns to a team that has not made the postseason since 2020.<\/p>\n

The WNBA draft takes place Monday at 4 p.m. in New York City. The Sparks do not have a first-round pick after having traded it to Seattle in 2024 for the fourth overall pick, which they used to select forward Rickea Jackson.<\/p>\n

The Sparks open the season May 10 against the defending champion Las Vegas Aces at Crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n

Read more WNBA draft: Sparks add South Carolina\u2019s Ta\u2019Niya Latson among 3 picks<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 10-time All-Star forward, who spent 12 seasons with the Sparks after being drafted No. 1 overall in 2012, played the past two seasons in Seattle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-verified-news"],"yoast_head":"\nNneka Ogwumike returning to the Sparks - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2372\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nneka Ogwumike returning to the Sparks - Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 10-time All-Star forward, who spent 12 seasons with the Sparks after being drafted No. 1 overall in 2012, played the past two seasons in Seattle.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=2372\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Silicon Valley Moving Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-08T07:29:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c341e004d14fe475543d562fb99926a9.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=2372#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=2372\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/636e2e5a10a21cf87fe6eb5951e8a6b7\"},\"headline\":\"Nneka Ogwumike returning to the Sparks\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-08T07:29:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=2372\"},\"wordCount\":345,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=2372#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/c341e004d14fe475543d562fb99926a9.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Verified News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=2372#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=2372\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\\\/?p=2372\",\"name\":\"Nneka Ogwumike returning to the Sparks - 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