Who Is Chiney Ogwumike? Bio, Boyfriend, Family, Measurements

Quick Facts

The last name Ogwumike has come to be synonymous with basketball in the U.S just like the name Williams has become synonymous with tennis. While the former has produced two popular names in the world of basketball – Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike, the latter has also produced two amazing names in the world of tennis – and

Just like her sister , Chiney Ogwumike took her love for basketball to a professional level and currently plays for the Connecticut Sun of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA). She has been with the Sun since 2014 after the team selected her in the 2014 WNBA draft. Since her professional debut, Chiney went ahead to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award that same year. Below are all the other thrilling facts you should know about this sensational and talented player.

Bio

Chiney, as she is popularly known, was born on the 21st day of March 1992 to Parents of Nigeria descent as Chinenye Ogwumike. Just like her sister, she began playing basketball from her High School days at Cypress Fairbanks High School, Cypress, Texas.

She was a part of the 2010 WBCA High School All-America Game where she earned the MVP honors for the White team. After High School, Chiney like her big sister chose Stanford over Notre Dame and Connecticut.

During her college career, she played in three Final Fours and held the record for most rebounds in the history of Stanford Women’s Basketball and the Pac-12 Conference, as of January 3, 2014, a record now held by Kelsey Plum of Washington.

WNBA Career

Chiney Ogwumike was drafted first overall in the 2014 WNBA draft by the Connecticut Sun and she has remained with them ever since. She did pretty well in her rookie season, setting an average record of 15.5 points per game and 7.5 rebounds per game, she was soon named a WNBA All-Star alongside her big sister Nneka Ogwumike – breaking records as the first pair of sisters to be selected into a WNBA All-Star game.

She also went ahead to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2014 and signed an endorsement deal with Nike soon after being drafted by the Connecticut Sun.

Chiney was benched for the entire 2015 season following an injury she had on her right knee long before the season began. She returned for the 2016 season, played a total of 33 games recording an average of 12.6 points per game.

However, by December 2016, there was a need for Chiney Ogwumike to undergo a surgery after she injured her Achilles while playing overseas during the WNBA offseason. As a result of the surgery, she missed the 2017 WNBA season. In 2016 also, she was elected Vice-President of the WNBA Players Association.

The Sun suspended her for the entire 2017 season to free up a roster spot due to her injury, that same year, precisely in April 2017, she also signed a contract extension with the team. In May 2018, Ogwumike went back to the Sun, and played her first WNBA game in two years, 17 minutes into the game, she scored 9 points in the starting lineup in a 101-65 victory over the Las Vegas Aces.

Ogwumike has also played with some overseas’ clubs. She was in Europe for the 2014–15 European season, playing for Italy’s Famila Schio. In 2016, she signed with Henan Yichuan of the WCBA for the 2016–17 Chinese season. She also played with the USA Basketball U18 team.

Her Deal With ESPN

In May 2018, Chiney signed a multi-year contract with ESPN to become a full-time in-sports analyst. While recovering from her first injury in 2016, to keep herself busy, Chiney reached out to the network and filled in on His and Hers, which featured Michael Smith and Jemele Hill at the time.

When she got injured again a year later, she reached out to the network for the second time and they allowed her to serve as an analyst for about a dozen women’s college basketball games in the WNBA, thus, when ESPN launched their SportsCenter Africa in 2017, the Nigerian-American star seemed like the perfect fit to host the show.

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Chiney Ogwumike’s Family and Boyfriend

Chiney is one of the four daughters born to Nigerian parents, Ify and Peter Ogwumike. Her mother is a longtime school administrator while her father is tech consultant who splits his time between Nigeria and Houston.

Her older sister Nneka, is also a basketball player with the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association, her two younger sisters are Chisom and Erinma.

Like her older sister, Chiney is quite secretive about her private life and relationships. There is no available about her past or present relationships, she is probably more focused on her career at the moment.

Height And Other Measurements

The beautiful Nigeria-American player stands at the height of 6 feet 3 inches and weighs 79kg. Her other body measurements are unknown. She has black hair and dark brown eyes.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.