PHOENIX — Arike Ogunbowale had a league staff member carry her MVP trophy on Saturday. She could be excused for not wanting to lug it around herself: The Dallas Wings guard had just made the WNBA All-Star Game into her own record-setting, electric highlight reel, and the accompanying hardware had some heft to it. Ogunbowale’s crystal trophy weighed more than 20 pounds.
The size of a trophy for an exhibition game might reasonably seem unremarkable. But recent history made it notable here. The WNBA’s All-Star trophy ceremony was soundly mocked in 2022, when commissioner Cathy Engelbert gave a rinky-dink silver cup to MVP Kelsey Plum, a presentation that might have looked more at home in a youth rec league. (Plum’s teammates on the Las Vegas Aces jokingly re-enacted the moment with a juice box.)
