Sparks take on Valkyries in Nneka Ogwumike's final game of her WNBA career

LOS ANGELES — The Sparks are 16-27 this season and they're not going to be playing beyond Thursday.

Their opponents coming into their house are the Golden State Valkyries. They are 31-12 and a win would put them in the second seed of the playoffs.

All of this doesn't matter compared to the reality we've all come into: Thursday night is Nneka Ogwumike's last game of her WNBA career.

If this reads more of a tribute post than a game preview, well, it is. Nneka has been here for half the WNBA's life (15 out of 30 seasons!). She has done it all. Most fans know her endless accolades: 2012 Rookie of the Year, 2016 MVP, 11-time All-Star, 8-time All-WNBA, 7-time All-Defensive team, and, of course, 2016 WNBA champion. She also has the fourth most points in league history, third in rebounds, and fourth in steals. Ogwumike is a walking icon.

"We know she's a great player but she's an amazing person," Sparks rookie guard Tonie Morgan said after Tuesday's game in Las Vegas. "She's took me under her even when I first came in and she's just been amazing to all of us and just sharing her wisdom with everybody anytime she can. Even on the sidelines, baselines, whenever she can. She's been very helpful for me in my development and so I'm very grateful for her."

And the team wants to pay tribute to her by sending her off with a win.

"I think we all feel the importance of giving it everything we got on Thursday," Roberts disclosed on Tuesday. "You know what she has meant to me, to this team, just this season… you can't really quantify. What she means to this league is impossible to even… you know the respect that she has from every player, every official, every coach has really been cool to witness and experience. So we have a good game plan ready for Golden State. Obviously, they're very good, too. Um, really good defensive team. No game in this league is easy but we all owe it to her to just empty the tank and put our absolute best out there."

And Ogwumike will go out still at the top of her game. She's averaging 17.3 points and 8.9 rebounds (which would be the second best rebounding season of her career). 

"Oh, I thought I was going to play for maybe like two or three more years," Ogwumike said in her first press conference after announcing her retirement last month. "I started reconsidering maybe the three years after the CBA, I will say that, in my experience in life, I think that's probably been the most gratifying moment for me. But it definitely took a lot out of me to be able to sustain and I'm not somebody who wants to push my body past the limit, push my mind past the limit, and then once free agency started, when we were finally able to come to terms, I knew that wherever I went, I was like, okay, I'm going to sign like a couple years."

"Free agency happened; it was such a small period of time, and things kind of changed," Ogwumike continued. "I only ended up signing one year and I think it ended up being kind of a blessing in disguise. So once training camp hit, I think I realized, you know what, what I have left is one more season. And I was okay with that and I wanted to do whatever I could to play my best to ensure that the last season, I could help my teammates."

Ogwumike was always so unselfish and always so giving. She was the first player I asked a question to when I started this beat in 2023. She congratulated me when I told her I would be covering All-Star in Vegas later that season. And she spoke to me (well, everyone) with the same regal cadence she was known for. 

The league will miss Nneka Ogwumike, a Sparks and WNBA legend. The Sparks hope to send her off the right way with a win. But whatever happens, it will be an honor and a privilege to watch her final WNBA game.

And it was an honor and a privilege to watch Nneka Ogwumike in the WNBA, period.