After missing the playoffs by a singular game last year with the 2018 Rookie of the Year A’Ja Wilson and fellow All-Star Kayla McBride and, after drafting Notre Dame standout Jackie Young first overall in the 2019 draft, the Las Vegas Aces were already 6-to-1 favorites to win the WNBA title. That obviously wasn’t enough for team president and head coach Bill Laimbeer, who orchestrated a blockbuster deal to land All-Star and last year’s WNBA MVP runner-up Liz Cambage from the Dallas Wings.
The Wings will reportedly receive guard Moriah Jefferson and forward Isabelle Harrison as well as first and second round 2020 draft picks in exchange for the two-time All-Star. Cambage, a 6-foot-8 Australian, averaged 23 points and 9.7 rebounds per game en route to her second All-Star appearance in three seasons in 2018. She will join Wilson, who averaged 20.7 points, eight rebounds and 2.2 assists per game in her rookie campaign.
The move gives the Aces arguably the top frontcourt in the league, while also adding Young to pair with 2018 All-Star Kayla McBride in the backcourt. Needless to say, the addition makes the Aces one of, if not THE, favorite to win the WNBA title in 2019, the team’s second season in Las Vegas.
Even her former teammates admire her tenacity and resilience.
“When we get in between those lines, it’s like the Beauty and the Beast turns on,” said Wings point guard Skylar Diggins-Smith when describing Cambage. “She has a tenacity about her. She believes that she can score on anybody.”
Cambage will pair nicely with Laimbeer, the original “bad boy” from his days as the Detroit Pistons’ enforcer. Cambage was hit with six technical fouls last year, seven if you count the rescinded technical she received after wrestling with Chicago Sky center Stefanie Dolson in the paint for a rebound. When Cambage extended her arm toward the ball, Cambage’s elbow inadvertently hit Dolson in the face. She was assessed a tech and was looking at a suspension before it was overturned by the league.
She was also suspended by the WNBL 2017 after kneeing an opponent in the back of the leg. The league found her guilty of “unduly rough play” and imposed a two-game ban.
The acquisition also pairs two of the league’s most outspoken players in Cambage and Wilson.
Last year, Cambage said the heads of the WNBA, the WNBL (Australia) and FIBA have told her privately that they don’t know how to referee someone of her size.
“If they can’t get it together now, how is the game meant to progress and evolve?” Cambage said. “I’m evolution right now.”
Wilson is no stranger to being outspoken towards the league. In her first season, she was the face of a equal pay movement within the league. She also advocated for players’ rights when it came to travel, a protest — along with teammates — that cost the team a forfeit and, eventually, a playoff spot (the team missed the postseason by one game).
“Honestly, I think it’s just the type of person that I am,” Wilson said. “I think that it’s just who I am, my parents really raised me in a way to not hold my tongue. I try…not step on anybody’s toes, just really saying what’s on my mind.”
The duo — and the rest of Laimbeer’s squad — would seem to embrace the “bad girl” persona. Somebody has to be Darth Vader, right?
“People hate Beyonce,” Cambage said last year. “People probably had shit to say about Mother Teresa, you know? You can’t please everyone. You’re not an avocado. Not everyone’s going to love you.”
The Aces also added up free agent Sydney Colson, the team announced on Monday. Colson, the 16th overall pick in the 2011 WNBA draft, has played five seasons in the WNBA. She played her rookie season for both the Connecticut Sun and the New York Liberty then spent several seasons playing in Poland before returning to the league in 2015. She was cut by the Aces in training camp last season, though eventually played briefly for the Minnesota Lynx.
The Aces open the 2019 season at home against the Sparks on May 26 at 5 p.m.
