Damian Lillard Is The Latest Player To Back Nneka Ogwumike After Her Olympic Snub

Damian Lillard is the latest athlete to speak out in response to Los Angeles Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike’s snub from the USA 2020 Tokyo Olympic women’s basketball team. The NBA All-Star took to Twitter on Wednesday night and said that “they doin Nneka Ogwumike dirty smh.”

Ogwumike’s omission from Team USA’s roster was a shock to basketball fans. The 6’2 forward was the MVP of the 2020 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, was one of eight athletes invited to Team USA’s college tour against top-10 NCAA programs in 2019, won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 FIBA World Cups, and has been one of the WNBA’s biggest stars for the last decade. She’s the only former WNBA MVP to not make an Olympic roster.

Lillard is part of a long list to call out Ogwumike’s cut, including her former teammate Candace Parker, sister Erica, teammate and sister Chiney, head coach Derek Fisher, Hall of Fame inductee Lisa Leslie, and former WNBA player Devereaux Peters.

“Of course I’ve reached out to Nneka,” Parker said. “I think that there’s a number of women that are deserving. That’s not taking away from anyone on the team. Shoutout to Chelsea Gray for being the point guard. I was so excited that they didn’t mess that up, and put her on the team because she’s one of the best guards in the entire world. There’s a number of players that are deserving. I mean, when you’re the United States, you could field a first, second and third team and probably win gold, silver, and bronze. At the same time, I know there’s a lot of deserving women, but how many times are we going to say it’s unfair, right? How many times are we going to say that it’s not politics? I think we all know that. I hit Nneka, I was like ‘Listen, it sucks. It’s unfair. All that. Blah, blah, blah. You’re one of the greats. You’re the only MVP not to make the Olympic team.’ Which is bullsh*t. But that’s what it is, right? That’s why I’m commentating in Tokyo.”