Grading Wings star Arike Ogunbowale’s historic 2024 WNBA season

Arike Ogunbowale had a historic 2024 WNBA season. She has continued to establish herself as one of the best players in the entire league. Ogunbowale’s Dallas Wings ultimately finished the year with the second worst record in the league. With that being said, Ogunbowale did everything she could to keep the team afloat amid the plethora of injuries on the roster.

From purely an individual standpoint, Ogunbowale’s season was impressive. How well did she play, though? Was it the best season of her career? In which areas did Ogunbowale fall short of her expectations?

Without further ado, let’s give Ogunbowale’s 2024 season a grade.

Arike Ogunbowale took a step forward as a superstar

WNBA fans have known about Ogunbowale for years now. However, this past season was a historic one in the league with its increased viewership. Ogunbowale continued to play at an elite level, rising to the pressure.

The 27-year-old’s 22.2 points per game was second only to MVP favorite A’ja Wilson, who averaged 26.9 points per game. Ogunbowale led the league in steals per game with a mark of 2.1. And returning to the offensive end of the floor, Ogunbowale was eighth in assists with 5.1 per game.

She also helped out on the boards as a guard, recording 4.6 rebounds per outing. Ogunbowale is a tremendous scorer but her versatility unquestionably stood out throughout the ’24 campaign.

She made history as well. Ogunbowale broke the Wings’ franchise all-time scoring record in 2024. She would later record the 4,000th point of her career, becoming the fastest player in WNBA history to accomplish the feat.

Wings’ struggles

Although Arike Ogunbowale played well from an individual standpoint, the Wings’ struggles cannot be ignored. Winning is important and Dallas finished with the second worst record (9-31) in the league.

The Wings’ frustrations were not Ogunbowale’s fault. Satou Sabally missed the entire first half of the season while recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. Maddy Siegrist and Jaelyn Brown both missed significant amounts of time due to injuries as well.

So did this impact Ogunbowale’s performance at all?

Ogunbowale likely forced shots at times since the Wings’ roster was not at full capacity for most of the first half. As a result, her 38.3 field goal percentage tied her career-low while she averaged the most field goal attempts per game (19.2) of her career.

Ogunbowale’s 8.5 three-point attempts per game tied the highest average of her career. She shot a fairly respectable 34.6 percent from deep, which was right around her 35 percent three-point shooting career average.

Scoring efficiency was a struggle at times, but one has to remember that Ogunbowale was trying to do everything she could for a short-handed Wings roster throughout a significant portion of the season.

Arike Ogunbowale’s 2024 season grade

The 2024 WNBA season was a disappointing one overall for the Wings. Ogunbowale found plenty of individual success, though. She is in the prime of her career at 27 years old and is unquestionably a superstar in the WNBA.

Ogunbowale may have received an A or A+ if the Wings had played well. But she will be the first one to tell you how important winning is. Nevertheless, Ogunbowale enjoyed a strong year given everything she accomplished on the floor.

Arike Ogunbowale’s final 2024 season grade: A-

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