Ogwumike wants to lift women’s sports in return to L.A.
Nneka Ogwumike not only wants to make the Los Angeles Sparks a championship contender again, but also to get the community excited about women's basketball and other sports.
The former WNBA MVP resigned with the Sparks, continuing her career with the team that drafted her No. 1 in 2012.
“The Sparks are a basketball team, a team that wins and wins with greatness and competitiveness," Ogwumike said on a Zoom call. “A team that gets people excited about basketball and sports. A team that is culturally relevant. A team that changes things for women in sport.”
Ogwumike will once again team up with her sister Chiney, who also re-signed with the Sparks last week, just as they did at Stanford.
“Understanding where Chiney is in her career, where I am in my career, there's certainly more years behind us than in front of us,” said Ogwumike, who won the MVP in 2016. “For us to be in a situation where we're on a team, the pieces are kind of coming together, I would say that was certainly signifying that something was really getting assembled here.”
ELSEWHERE Rangers acquire Kane from Hawks
After 16 years in Chicago, longtime Blackhawks star Patrick Kane is on the move. The three-time Stanley Cup winner was traded to the New York Rangers, with Chicago receiving two draft picks and a player in return.
The Rangers sent a conditional 2023 second-round pick, a 2025 fourth-rounder and minorleaguer Andy Welinski to the Blackhawks and received 24year-old Cooper Zech. Arizona received a 2025 fifth-rounder from New York to retain 25 percent of Kane's salary, with Chicago keeping 50 percent.
The long-rumored deal comes before the NHL's Friday trade deadline.
The 34-year-old winger was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season and the Blackhawks, tied for last place in the Western Conference, have stated they are entering a rebuilding period.
Kane, the No. 1 overall pick in 2007, has played well in Chicago this season, tallying 16 goals and 29 assists in 54 games.
College basketball: Tyler Kolek had 21 points and 10 assists, and No. 6 Marquette clinched its first outright Big East championship by beating Butler 72-56 at Indianapolis.
In other games Tuesday, Jayden Gardner had 12 points and nine rebounds, and No. 13 Virginia outlasted visiting Clemson 64-57 to stop a two-game skid. Kris Murray scored 26 points, Tony Perkins flirted with the first triple-double in Iowa history and the visiting Hawkeyes beat No. 15 Indiana 90-68. Perkins had 23 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high eight assists in his return to his home state.
Tennis: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic held on to beat Czech qualifier Tomas Machac 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (1) at the Dubai Championships in his first match since winning the Australian Open.
Rafael Nadal, still limited by the hip injury he suffered in the Australian Open, said he will not compete in events at Indian Wells, Calif. next week and in Miami in late March.
Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz pulled out of the Mexican Open in Acapulco with a hamstring strain.