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Liz Cambage asks Dallas Wings to be traded

By Howard Megdal

UNCASVILLE, CT - AUGUST 14: Dallas Wings center Liz Cambage (8) during a WNBA game between Dallas Wings and Connecticut Sun on August 14, 2018, at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. Connecticut won 96-76. (Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
UNCASVILLE, CT - AUGUST 14: Dallas Wings center Liz Cambage (8) during a WNBA game between Dallas Wings and Connecticut Sun on August 14, 2018, at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. Connecticut won 96-76. (Photo by M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The WNBA offseason just got crazier.

Liz Cambage, the dominant center who turned the Dallas Wings into playoff contenders last season while setting the WNBA single-game record for points, has asked the Dallas Wings to be traded.

Rachel Galligan was first to report the story on Tuesday afternoon.

Greg Bibb, Dallas Wings president and CEO, confirmed the report later Tuesday, saying in a statement: “Liz Cambage has communicated through her representation a desire to play elsewhere in the WNBA during the 2019 season. While Liz is currently under contract with the Dallas Wings, we will work to resolve this issue while keeping the interest of our organization the priority.”

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The decision by Cambage upends what was a fairly straightforward market for teams in search of a big. Relatively few true fives are on the list of unrestricted free agents, and those like LaToya Sanders and Erlana Larkins aren’t the players a team builds the franchise around.

Those bigs looked to be coming in the WNBA Draft, with both Kalani Brown and Teaira McCowan high on the lists of teams in search of fives, such as the Indiana Fever and the New York Liberty.

Now, those two teams, along with everyone else, will be trying to figure out how to bring Cambage to town. Cambage’s player efficiency rating of 30.7 last season was best in the WNBA. She is an unguardable force, capable of rim protecting, rebounding, and shooting it from anywhere. Even her assist percentage jumped to 16.5 percent last year, extremely high for a post.

And then there’s this: the entertainment value of Liz Cambage sells tickets. Period. She is a destination player.

Consider that the negotiations ahead are extremely complicated. Without a defined team indicated by Cambage, as was the case when Elena Delle Donne told the Chicago Sky she wished only to play for the Washington Mystics, teams would need to find a package suitable for the Wings, while also maintaining enough of a talent base to entice Cambage to come spend the final season she’ll be unable to test free agent waters.

That could also limit the return, with any acquiring team all too aware of Cambage’s decision to leave the WNBA after 2011, again after 2013, and then asking for a trade following 2018.

There’s also this: the evolving CBA negotiations could throw the current restrictions on player movement out the window, especially if the Wings drag this out — and having already begun offseason planning under the assumption that Cambage would not return, there’s little incentive for them to accept a subpar deal for Cambage, one of the league’s true game-changers.

A lot to process for everyone in this league.

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