‘Stephen A. Smith Did a Lot to Empower Me’ Admits ESPN Star Chiney Ogwumike After His Incredible Rise

CHINEY Ogwumike has quickly become one of ESPN’s fastest rising stars.

The 32-year-old former WNBA All-Star made her ESPN debut in 2017 when she was a member of the Connecticut Sun.

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Ogwumike joined the network full-time a year later while also playing for the Sun.

A regular on SportsCenter and NBA Today, the former WNBA Rookie of the Year is also a frequent guest analyst on First Take.

Starring alongside hosts Molly Qerim and Stephen A. Smith, who is also an executive producer on the show, Ogwumike recently praised Smith for his impact on his broadcasting career.

“Stephen A. is one of my closest mentors to date,” she told Horrible ad podcast.

“He did a lot to empower me in his space and internally at ESPN.”

Barring a brief return to a few shows, Smith has recently been absent from the popular sports talk show as he enjoys a well-deserved break.

However, Ogwumike added that he believes the show is stronger when Smith is on air.

“I think it’s always better when he’s there just because you know what to expect,” she explained.

“For the first year or so, I was like, ‘Damn, I want to get this to him, how do I get to him? How do I piss him off?’

“So I figured it out. Whenever you have a good argument, he starts to divert and throw other things… you have to bring it back.”

But, of course, no one is perfect, and the same applies to Smith.

Ogwimuke was asked about an on-air altercation between Smith and Monica McNutt in which she criticized him for his previous lack of WNBA coverage.

“I absolutely think Stephen A. could have embraced a little more of what the trajectory was building ahead of time, but it’s not just him,” she said. he responded.

“It was the whole landscape… I think it’s a little unfair to say, ‘Oh, Stephen A. could have been doing this,’ because it’s true he could have done it, but so could everyone else.”

Ogwumike also credited Smith for bringing her in to begin with, helping to give her the platform to discuss the WNBA.

“When I started at ESPN, there weren’t many platforms that would accept a woman by my name… and have me talk about the NBA or the WNBA when that didn’t exist,” she said.

“People may not remember all those appearances, but I was there to support them.”

But it was an uphill struggle at first for Ogwumike, who explained how she had to fight for air time to discuss the ratification of the WNBA’s 2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“There was a segment that I begged to detail because I knew I wouldn’t be there when the CBA was ratified, but it would make the news,” she recalled.

“I had to record it on SportsCenter during a commercial break, which meant I couldn’t make a mistake that would detract from what the CBA accomplished.”

Ogwumike added that “it took me a long time to pitch the argument for this to happen,” noting that once the news broke, “this thread went on for days.”

Thanks to the coverage of names like Ogwumike, as well as the emergence of superstars like A’ja Wilson, Caitlin Clark, and Angel Reese, the WNBA is continually rising to new heights.

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