Why coaching Nneka Ogwumike is a ‘gift’ for Lynne Roberts

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Sparks sent shockwaves through the WNBA world when it was announced that former franchise star Nneka Ogwumike was returning to the only other team she had ever known prior to playing the past two seasons with the Seattle Storm. For Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts, having Ogwumike on the team presents a unique challenge in terms of coaching.

Every coach walks a fine line with star players who command respect. Coaches sometimes run the risk of alienating or upsetting their stars if they are perceived as being too hard or critical. Lynne Roberts is grateful that she does not need to worry about that when it comes to the Nneka Ogwumike and the Sparks.

Following Sparks’ practice on Tuesday, Roberts spoke about how the best players in the world want to be coached and want to be held accountable. That’s been the key reason why coaching Ogwumike has been such a blessing.

“Nneka is a winner. Competitors, winners, they want to be coached. That’s true in the NBA, that’s true in the WNBA, the best players want to be coached. I don’t think you’re a Hall of Famer if you don’t want to be coached,” Roberts said. “Nneka is a walking Hall of Famer. These guys actually get annoyed when they don’t get coached, when they don’t get corrected.

“When they get treated like, ‘oh it’s Nneka, I’m not gonna …,’ I think that irritates them because they don’t have the ego of, ‘you can’t tell me what to do.’ So it’s a gift as a coach.”

Ogwumike was a full participant in practice after she missed her first game this season during the Sparks’ win against the Las Vegas Aces due to a hand injury. Although there hasn’t been any update regarding her availability for the team’s next game on Friday against the Washington Mystics, she seems to be trending in a positive direction.

During Roberts’ pregame press conference prior to the Aces game, she suggested that Ogwumike’s hand injury wasn’t as serious as it could have been, and that the team anticipated her being back in time for the Mystics game.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 WNBA Draft, the former Stanford star is one of the best players in Sparks franchise history. She helped lead the team to the franchise’s last championship in 2016, the same year she won the league’s MVP award. During the team’s win against the Phoenix Mercury last week, Ogwumike moved into the top-five on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list.

The 10-time All-Star has appeared in five games during the early goings of the regular season at a little over 31 minutes per game. She’s been averaging 15.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.2 steals with splits of 55.8 percent shooting from the field, 64.3 percent shooting from the 3-point line and 84.6 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

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