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The Los Angeles Sparks have verbally agreed to a deal with four-time All-Star and free-agent center Liz Cambage, per ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
Cambage averaged 14.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game for the Las Vegas Aces last season. Las Vegas had the second-best record in the WNBA with a 24-8 record but fell to the Phoenix Mercury in the semifinals.
She joins a Sparks team looking to bounce back after losing a three-way tiebreaker to the New York Liberty for the eighth and final playoff spot last season. While they fielded the second-best defensive rating, the 12-20 Sparks had the league’s worst offensive rating and posted two separate six-game losing streaks.
Leading scorer Nneka Ogwumike (Grade 2 knee sprain) missed 14 games, while her sister, Chiney Ogwumike, also had a knee injury and played just seven games. Fourth-leading scorer Kristi Toliver (fractured pinkie) missed 13 games too.
The Sparks have added an infusion of talent this offseason, though.
Chennedy Carter, who has averaged 16.1 points over her first two WNBA seasons, is now on L.A. after a trade with the Atlanta Dream. Forward Katie Lou Samuelson, who had 7.0 points per game and shot 35.1 percent from three-point range last year, is also aboard.
Cambage is clearly a massive game-changer, though. She and Nneka Ogwumike will form an absolutely dominant frontcourt that could lead the Sparks to far better days and perhaps a deep playoff run.
As for the Aces, this is undoubtedly a tough loss as they enter a new era under first-year head coach Becky Hammon.
However, the Aces are not short on talent, with 2020 MVP A’ja Wilson, a fantastic shooter and scorer in Kelsey Plum and four-time All-Star Chelsea Gray.
They should still be a force to be reckoned with on a nightly basis, though the same could also be said for the Sparks now after the Cambage addition.
