Arike Ogunbowale

Arike Ogunbowale: A Brief Biography

Arike Ogunbowale is a professional WNBA player who plays at the point guard position for the Dallas Wings of the WNBA. She was drafted with the 5th overall pick of the 2019 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings and has stayed as an integral part of the team since 2019. Ogunbowale is a 4-time WNBA All-Star and has been the All-Star game MVP twice in her career, once in 2021 and the other time in 2024. She was selected into the All-WNBA First Team in 2020 and was also selected into the All-WNBA Second Team in 2021. Apart from this, she was also the WNBA scoring champion in the 2020 WNBA season, averaging a solid 22.8 points per game.

Ogunbowale’s college statistics also show how dominant she has been even in her collegiate career, winning the NCAA championship in 2018 with her college, the University of Notre Dame, and was also named the Most Outstanding Player (MOP) in that stint. She is also a 2-time Second Team All-American (2018 and 2019) in addition to being the WBCA Coaches’ All-American in the same years. She also won the ACC Female Athlete of the Year honours in 2018, was selected into two First-team All-ACC teams in 2018 and 2019 and was also a McDonald’s All-American in her High School days, when she was part of the Divine Savior Holy Angels High School. Ogunbowale averaged 21.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in the 2023 WNBA season.

Arike Ogunbowale's Early Life

Arike Ogunbowale was born to parents Gregory and Yolanda Ogunbowale in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her parents are of Nigerian descent and she is the youngest member of the Ogunbowale family. Her father was a military man in Nigeria and her mother was a softball player at DePaul University. Ogunbowale credits her mother’s competitive nature for her own success in the WNBA as her mother was the best softball player in Wisconsin, according to Ogunbowale and that is something that rubbed off on her and has helped her develop into the prolific scorer that we see on the court.

Arike Ogunbowale Personal Life

Arike Ogunbowale loved to play basketball from a young age, and since sports run in her family, it was not very difficult for her to find inspiration early on. Her brother, Dare played football at the University of Wisconsin and is currently a running back for the Houston Texans, as of August 2024. She is also a cousin of basketball player Diamon Stone.

Ogunbowale was also featured as a contestant in the popular American Television Show, Dancing with the Stars and was partnered with Gleb Savchenko, who is a Russian-American dancer, choreographer and model on Dancing with the Stars.

Arike Ogunbowale Family Background

Arike Ogunbowale’s parents, Yolanda and Gregory Ogunbowale were sportspersons themselves, with her father playing mostly football and rugby and her mother being one of the best softball players in the state at the time. She also has an older brother, Dare, who is a professional running back for the Houston Texans.

Ogunbowale came out with the news of engagement in May 2024, and her fiancé is Lala Ronay, who is a social media personality and content creator and has about 430,000 followers on her Instagram account.

Arike Ogunbowale Girlfriend

Arike Ogunbowale is currently engaged to social media personality Lala Ronay. Ogunbowale proposed to Lala Ronay in May 2024, when she got down on one knee in front of all their friends and family, which was a surprise for Ronay, and presented her with a ring, as per Pinkvilla.

Ronay primarily made a name for herself by being in the fashion industry and has made many custom-made clothing items which have sparked interest from the general audience who like her creativity and unique approach to fashion. Her vlogs and videos also show content on curly hair care, skin care, fitness and lifestyle content.

Arike Ogunbowale Social Media

Arike Ogunbowale is fairly active on social media, where she is often seen posting content on her fits, deals and family members. Most recently she has posted pictures with her soon-to-be wife Lala Ronay. Her Instagram account has the handle @arike_ogunbowale. She also has an X account (formerly Twitter) with the handle @Arike_O.

Arike Ogunbowale Brand Ambassador

Arike Ogunbowale has signed multiple brand deals with famous companies since she got drafted. Some of her most prominent deals include a partnership with Nike, which speculates a shoe line for the scoring phenom in the near future.

Apart from this Ogunbowale also signed on as the Brand Ambassador for The Good Feet in 2023. She will be attending various events on the company’s behalf and will also aid in the company’s publicity efforts and will also serve as an advisor on strategic initiatives planned for FY 2023. The deal also includes clauses to support local non-profit organisations which will be picked by Ogunbowale.

Arike Ogunbowale Investments

Arike Ogunbowale has made a couple of investments in Just Women’s Sports as part of their Seed VC I and II as per CBInsights, but not much else is known about her other investments.

Arike Ogunbowale Career Stats

Arike Ogunbowale was drafted with the 1st pick of the 2019 WNBA Draft and since then, she has been consistently showing improvement on the offensive end. She started the 2019 season by averaging a solid 19.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game with 1.1 steals per game. She shot 38.8% from the field in that season and was nominated into the All-Rookie Team for her efforts. The following season she averaged 22.8 points, 2.8 rebounds along 3.4 assists per game while shooting 41.2% from the field. She also improved her steals stats from the previous year to 1.5 steals per game.

In the 2021 and 2022 seasons, she dropped her averages to 18.7 points and 19.7 points per game, with her other statistics being virtually the same. In 2023, she again picked up her scoring average to a solid 21.2 points per game with 3.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, while shooting 39.8% from the field. She also posted her personal high for steals per game at 1.7 steals per game.

Arike Ogunbowale Achievements

WNBA All-Star

Arike Ogunbowale is a 4-time WNBA All-Star in the years 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

All-Star Game MVP

Arike Ogunbowale has been part of 4 WNBA All-Star games, and she was awarded the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game award twice, once in 2021 and once in 2024.

All-WNBA First Team selections

Arike Ogunbowale has been part of one All-WNBA First Team, which was in the year 2020.

All-WNBA Second Team selections

Arike Ogunbowale was nominated for the All-WNBA Second Team in 2021.

WNBA All-Rookie Team

Arike Ogunbowale averaged 19.1 points per game in her rookie season in 2019. This netted her a selection in the 2018 All-Rookie team, cementing her calibre as an up-and-coming star.

NCAA Championship

Arike Ogunbowale won an NCAA title in 2018, with her college, the University of Notre Dame.

NCAA MOP award

Arike Ogunbowale also won the Most Outstanding Player award (MOP) in 2018, which was the year she won the NCAA tournament with her college averaging 21.8 points per game.

WBCA Coaches’ All-American

Arike Ogunbowale is also a two-time WBCA Coaches’ All-American and was selected for it in the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

ACC All-Freshman team

Arike Ogunbowale was also part of the ACC-All-Freshman as she made an impact in her freshman year playing for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

McDonald’s All-American

Arike Ogunbowale is also a McDonald’s All-American and won the nomination in 2015.

Arike Ogunbowale Contract

Arike Ogunbowale is currently on a 3-year $725,952 deal with the Dallas Wings, signed in 2023 and will be valid till 2025, in which $725,952 is guaranteed and includes an average annual salary of $241,984. Ogunbowale earns a base salary of $241,984 in 2024 while carrying a cap hit of $241,984 and a dead cap of $491,016.

Her previous deal was her rookie deal with the Dallas Wings, which she signed in 2019 and was a 4-year $220,325 contract with the Dallas Wings and included an average salary of $55,059.

Arike Ogunbowale Diet

Arike Ogunbowale stresses a lot about eating healthy instead of dieting. She loves smoothies and loves to have chocolate protein, with strawberries or bananas. After workouts, Ogunbowale likes to have pasta or rice with broccoli, asparagus or zucchini, along with varieties of fish like salmon. The source of protein can also be chicken sometimes, as per the Red Bull page on Arike Ogunbowale.