The long Liz Cambage nightmare continues.
Reports that Liz Cambage may have found a home at last appear to be premature. Brady Klopfer reported the Dallas Wings “are finalizing” a trade of Cambage to the Las Vegas Aces for guard Moriah Jefferson, forward Isabelle Harrison and a future draft pick. Three league sources told High Post Hoops that the trade is not close to completed, though as we have previously reported, the two sides have continued talking about Cambage all offseason.
The trade would have freed up one of the elite players in basketball to play, though any number of hurdles appear to remain, beyond just the two teams themselves.
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For instance, Cambage, as of last month, still hadn’t moved off of a position that she would only play in Los Angeles, though that may have changed.
It was widely assumed that this move was impossible once the Sparks traded for Chiney Ogwumike, including a 2020 first round pick that could have been included in a Cambage deal, though our own Jenn Hatfield showed how it was still possible.
The deal as reported would mean Las Vegas would be giving up little of its core from last season’s team. Jefferson, hampered by a knee injury, played just 251 minutes last season, 12th-most on the Aces, while Harrison did not play in the WNBA in 2018.
Jefferson was the second overall pick back in 2016, and has been extremely effective, when healthy, in her career. But the missed time she’s suffered has diminished her trade value around the league. Harrison is a versatile, talented player as well.
Still, considering the level of player Cambage is, this would be an extremely low return for her, following a transcendent 2018 season in which she led the WNBA in player efficiency rating with 30.7, set a single-game record with 53 points, and took the league by storm on and off the court.
As of now, she still doesn’t have a WNBA home for 2019.
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