Chiney Ogwumike to executive produce ESPN documentary on 2020 WNBA season
Chiney Ogwumike didn’t partake in the 2020 season inside the WNBA’s bubble in Florida, but she’s going to make sure the season will be remembered forever.
Ogwumike announced on Tuesday that she will serve as an executive producer on an upcoming ESPN Films documentary on the season.
adding another title to my resume: EXECUTIVE PRODUCER 🙏🏿✨
the women of the W are dope and deserve to be recognized for all that they do, so now we have an ESPN Films documentary to show the world!
and we just gettin started... pic.twitter.com/rgaunfNah4— Chiney Ogwumike (@chiney) January 19, 2021
Ogwumike has played four seasons in the league, three with the Connecticut Sun and one with the Los Angeles Sparks. The two-time All-Star and former No. 1 overall pick missed two full seasons due to a knee injury and an Achilles injury, however, and last played in 2019. She opted out of the 2020 season due to medical precautions related to COVID-19.
Ogwumike joined ESPN in 2017, working as a part-time WNBA and NBA analyst while still competing in the league. She took over hosting “Chiney and Golic Jr.,” alongside Mike Golic Jr., which made her the first Black woman to host a national daily sports radio show.
WNBA documentary to hit on social justice push
The league held a modified season at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, last summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That season, though, was overshadowed by a large social justice moment across the country — one that players across the league helped lead.
The documentary, based on the clip Ogwumike shared, will center around that and the players’ involvement in the Georgia Senate race. Players, especially the Atlanta Dream players, took a stand against Dream co-owner and Senator Kelly Loeffler — who was very open with her support for President Donald Trump and criticisms of the Black Lives Matter movement. The team openly supported Loeffler’s opponent in the race during the season, too.
Loeffler eventually lost her race in a runoff election to Sen. Raphael Warnock, and is reportedly planning to sell her stake in the team.
“When it came to what the WBBA players were doing, it always takes me back to what my mom has told me: Tiny drops of water make a mighty ocean,” Ogwumike said on ESPN on Tuesday. “Well, the WNBA players have been doing the work consistently, day by day, especially the last few seasons. Now people are seeing the vast nature of that work coming together.”
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