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WNBA superstar Arike Ogunbowale won’t be representing Team USA in Paris at the 2024 Olympics, but it won’t be because she didn’t make the cut.
Instead, Ogunbowale, a three-time WNBA All-Star, told Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson that she removed herself from the running for the team due to the internal “politics.”
“Well the thing is, I pretty much had an idea that I wouldn’t be on it,” Ogunbowale said on the Nightcap show. “So there’s trials and stuff that go on throughout the years … and you do it, and you see the vibes and me being me, I just felt the vibes.
“Honestly, when it comes to that stuff it really doesn’t have much to do with your game. It’s really about who they feel like fits with the team … I could already tell that wasn’t the type of vibe they want. So I actually took my name out the pool months ago.”
Ogunbowale, who is second to A’ja Wilson in the WNBA in scoring at 26.2 points per game, said that when she thinks about her time in women’s basketball, “politics is always surrounding it.”
Sharpe then asked her about the controversy surrounding WNBA rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. And Ogunbowale made a really important in response.
“I feel bad for the girls. Because they’re not the ones saying it,” she said regarding their status in the game. “It’s the fans. Like, I’m not understanding where the delusion is coming from. Caitlin and Angel have not said nothing like ‘they the best players to come in the league.’ They didn’t say that … They know it’s the WNBA. They know how hard it is. So they’re probably like ‘can y’all be quiet a little bit? Because y’all making it harder for me on the court.'”
Fans of both Clark and Reese have stoked much of the discourse surrounding the players and undoubtedly made life more difficult for each.
Hopefully, now that both have seemingly settled into their WNBA careers, that rabid fandom takes a bit of step back.