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WNBA Super star Arike Ogunbowale She won’t represent the U.S. national team at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but it’s not because she wasn’t selected.
Instead, Ogunbowale, a three-time WNBA All-Star, told Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson that she was withdrawing from consideration for the team president position due to “politics” within the team.
“Well, actually, I thought I wouldn’t be doing it,” Ogunbowale said on Nightcap, “so after all those years of trials and all that stuff that’s happened… I did it, saw the vibe, saw me being myself, and I just got the vibe.”
“To be honest, when it comes to that sort of thing, it doesn’t really have much to do with how I play. It’s all about who they feel would fit in with the team. I already knew it wasn’t the atmosphere they wanted, so I removed my name from the list months ago.”
Ogunbowale, who averages 26.2 points per game and is second only to A’ja Wilson in the WNBA in scoring, said when she looks back on her time in women’s basketball, “politics is always intertwined.”
Sharpe then asked her about the controversy surrounding WNBA rookies Kaitlyn Clark and Angel Reese, and Ogunbowale had a very significant response.
“I feel bad for those girls because it’s not them that are saying that,” she said of their status in the game. “It’s the fans’ fault. I don’t understand where that delusion comes from. Kaitlyn and Angel never said, ‘We are the best players in the league.’ They never said that… They know this is the WNBA. know “How hard it is, so they’re probably like, ‘Hey guys, can you just be quiet? You’re all making it hard for me on the court.'”
Fans of both Clarke and Rees have arguably made life even more difficult for both players by fuelling the controversy surrounding them.
Thankfully, both players seem to have settled into their WNBA careers and their passionate fandom seems to have receded a bit.
