{"id":6953,"date":"2026-07-24T17:06:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6953"},"modified":"2026-07-24T17:06:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:06:06","slug":"former-president-barack-obama-surprises-wnba-all-stars-at-their-practice-at-his-presidential-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6953","title":{"rendered":"Former President Barack Obama surprises WNBA All-Stars at their practice at his Presidential Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Former President Barack Obama surprised the WNBA All-Stars before their practice at his new Presidential Center on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6951\">LeBron James signing with Philadelphia 76ers<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Obama walked in from a side door much to the surprise of the 22 All-Stars, who were delighted to see him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of you I\u2019m meeting for the first time, all of you are extraordinary,\u201d Obama said. \u201cThe way the game has been growing lately and the way the game has been picking up people have been paying attention to your excellence. \u2026 It has been a sight to see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This wasn\u2019t the first time that Obama has met some of the players. Many have taken trips to the White House when he was president after they either won WNBA championships or NCAA titles.<\/p>\n<p>He spoke to them for a few minutes before taking a group photo. Obama then spent about 10 minutes shaking hands with the players and taking photos with them. Atlanta Dream star Angel Reese took a selfie with the former president.<\/p>\n<p>Obama also chatted with Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark. The pair posed for a photo before Clark called in her Fever teammates Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell to join the picture.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6948\">LeBron James is heading to the Philadelphia 76ers, saying it will be his \u2018last decision\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The former president gave a shout out to A\u2019ja Wilson in his talk to the players and then went over and chatted with her as well.<\/p>\n<p>After the photo-ops were done, Obama stepped on the court and talked with New York Liberty star Jonquel Jones, getting down in a defensive stance for a few seconds on her. That was the extent of his time on the court. He told the players that he didn\u2019t play 5-on-5 anymore to protect his Achilles. He did say that he broke in the court with a game of \u201chorse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This was the first professional sport to use the basketball court at the center, which opened in June. Obama went to the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles in February. Obama said he unfortunately wasn\u2019t going to be able to make the All-Star Game on Saturday because of a previous engagement with his wife, Michelle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s fitting for our 30th anniversary that we\u2019re here as the first sports league to play in the Obama Presidential Center,\u201d said WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. \u201cSomeone who has inspired hundreds of millions of people to dream big and accomplish things like President Obama has and his tie to basketball is amazing too. I think there\u2019s no more fitting person to be meeting with the players.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After talking to the players, Obama went across the center to talk to a group of investors in the league and nearly 100 high school girls.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=6946\">Raleigh gas station on Hillsborough Street collapses after water floods on roof: Officials<\/a><\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP WNBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/wnba-basketball<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CHICAGO (AP) \u2014 Former President Barack Obama surprised the WNBA All-Stars before their practice at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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