Individually, Arike Ogunbowale is having a stellar 2024 season. She’s averaging 22.3 points, 5.3 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game, all career highs for the Dallas Wings guard. With the season’s final stretch approaching and Satou Sabally back, the Wings are in prime position to fight for a playoff spot and make some noise this postseason.
Swish Appeal interviewed Ogunbowale to discuss how she’s prepared for this career year, what her team has to do to find success, and why partnering with Raid made sense for her.
Regarding her career numbers, Ogunbowale made it clear her time in the gym is a key factor in her success.
I get after it, in the weight room, always offseasons are definitely tough, but I think the biggest thing is how I work out. I never shoot any shots without a hand in my face. Even if I’m just doing spot shooting, there’s always somebody there cause I know the type of defenses I see, so I try to practice how I play. So any drill I’m doing whether it’s a little sweep through to the elbow, there’s always going to be a defender there. Credit to the people I workout with and it’s always guys. The guys I workout with they dedicate their time every day to working out with me and making me better and holding defense like I would see in a game. Trapping me, doubling me so, definitely the training that I do I practice how I play.
That kind of play and intensity certainly came out during her All-Star Game performance. She scored 34 points, breaking the record for most points in an All-Star game, and led the WNBA All-Stars to victory, defeating Team USA in this exhibition matchup.
She was named the MVP of the game and discussed what being in that kind of zone feels like.
Once a player gets like that, and it really could happen to any WNBA player, the elite players, once they get like that, there’s really no stopping them. Unless you’re about to send every player at them, they’re going to find a way to score cause they’re just hot. A player gets hot like that it’s tough to stop. Cause they don’t see anything but the basket. It doesn’t matter what you do on defense. They don’t see anything but the basket. I think that’s kinda how I felt; I was just in the zone. Everything was getting knocked down and I had great players around me, that were finding me, setting good screens, they knew I was hot and they wanted to feed me so I appreciate that. It was fun, and I was definitely in the zone.
Playing on essentially a dream team and being the star that shines brightest is certainly exhilarating, but that time is over and done with. The reality is the Wings are three games back of the eighth and final playoff spot. With little time remaining, it’s now or never to make a playoff push.
Every game matters, every possession matters, and that’s how I’m approaching it. I know that’s how the team’s approaching it. We’re trying to make that playoff run and I kind of like it, kind of underdogs right now, so it’s going to be fun. I’m about to go out there and give everything I have.
We’ll find out in September whether they make it to the postseason, but we know that Ogunbowale will leave it all on the court—and that she will get her fits off.
I love picking fits for the games and for events. Sometimes I’ll have people help me just cause there’s a lot going on, but it’s definitely fun just collaborating with people or just buying clothes myself.
Her partnership with Raid was born from her love of clothes, particularly shoes, and her desire to keep her shoes clean while dealing with the humongous insects that reside in Texas.
They reached out because, fashion-wise, I have a huge shoe room and the whole campaign is “Save your shoes from killing bugs.” So the whole thing is there’s a RaidShoeSaver.com and you take your shoe, you scan the tag of it and you get savings on Raid products and Raid stuff to kill bugs, and obviously everybody’s used a shoe to kill a bug so it’s perfect partnering with them. I have a lot of shoes, shoe background and my shoe cost, you know helping them with the product to save your shoe, so it was definitely on brand for me and super dope.
With Raid in hand, clean Air Force Ones off the court and Kobe’s for on-court play, Ogunbowale is primed to finish the WNBA regular season strong, with her running mate Satou Sabally right by her side.
Regardless of the final result, every matchup remaining for the Dallas Wings will be must-see television. Ogunbowale is having an all-time season, and the thought that she still has more to give is a frightening one for the rest of the league.
