Tag: Liz Cambage

Liz Cambage breaks silence on WNBA future: ‘I’ve decided to step away from the league for the time being’

Liz Cambage announces she’s done with the WNBA “for the time being.”

Nearly six months ago, Liz Cambage signed a contract with the Los Angeles Sparks during free agency, fulfilling her life-long dream of repping the purple and gold.

Three weeks ago, amid a frustrating season for both parties, the organization and Cambage agreed to a “contract divorce” which permanently freed the Sparks of Cambage and Cambage of the Sparks.

The news came out of nowhere and left us without much dialogue from either side on what caused the breakup on July 26th — not much from the Sparks and not a peep from Cambage.

But on Monday we got a little something. The former WNBA scoring champion (2018) broke her silence on with this social media post.

So, Cambage seems to have regrets about her final days and how it played out. But her decision to step away from the Sparks, we’ve now learned isn’t just that. It’s a step away from the WNBA entirely.

There was speculation during the most recent offseason that the 6’8″ center might step away from basketball after citing mental health as the reason behind her missing the Tokyo Olympics. And not long before free agency, she spoke on the league’s financial treatment of players after learning of Becky Hammon’s $1 million contract with the Las Vegas Aces.

But when her dream team came calling, the decision must have been an easy one to make.

Now, with her being done with the WNBA, she’ll take the time to work on her “healing and personal growth before providing clarification on past rumors.”

There’s surely more to come. Stay tuned.

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Teammates couldn’t help but acknowledge …

Teammates couldn’t help but acknowledge Cambage’s discontent, and in return out of annoyance, they began force-feeding her the ball regardless of what play was supposed to be run, sources say. After the Sparks’ 84-66 embarrassing blowout loss, Cambage rushed to the locker room to get dressed for an early exit out of the arena after finishing with 11 points and five boards in 22 minutes. Prior to departing the locker room, she had a message for her teammates: “I can’t do this anymore. Best of luck to you guys,” she stated before storming out, according to sources with knowledge of her departure. Her teammates were shocked at the timing, sources say, but not of the end result.

In film sessions, sources say it was …

In film sessions, sources say it was customary for Cambage to call out teammates, accusing them of looking her off and not targeting her. Teammates would counter that she’s not sealing in the post and seldom gets back on defense when a turnover occurs. It was a conundrum that went unresolved. One ongoing team grievance is the club’s practice location. The Sparks practice at Jump Beyond Sports complex the majority of the season, and it’s been described as the worst practice facility in the league, sources say. Fisher and staff picked this location prior to the season to the dismay of most of the players, sources say. “An AAU team wouldn’t want to play there,” one player said.

Liz Cambage’s contract divorce for the LA Sparks, explained

Liz Cambage is officially no longer a member of the Sparks.

Nothing has really gone according to plan for the Los Angeles Sparks this season.

They started the year by firing Derek Fisher and moving on. Then, they signed Liz Cambage to a deal in free agency which was a huge move at the time. It seemed like things were on the up and up in LA.

Now, here they stand at 6th in the league’s standings just clinging on to a playoff spot and Liz Cambage has officially left the team.

New broke early on Tuesday that Cambage “quit” the team and wanted out of LA, according to Girls Talk Sports TV’s Khristina Williams.

Then, shortly after, Sparks officially announced a contract divorce with their 6’8 center.

And, just like that, it was over. Cambage was gone and the Sparks are still pushing to hold on to their playoff position.

It’s just been a strange season all around that ended in one of the strangest ways we could see as fans. Many fans have never even heard of a contract divorce.

If you haven’t, don’t worry. I’ll explain all that and more right here.

Liz Cambage’s time with the Los Angeles …

Liz Cambage’s time with the Los Angeles Sparks is over. The team announced Tuesday they’ve agreed to a “contract divorce” with the 30-year-old center, just 25 games into her Sparks tenure. “It is with support that we share Liz Cambage’s decision to terminate her contract with the organization,” Sparks managing partner Eric Holoman said. “We want what’s best for Liz and have agreed to part ways amicably. The Sparks remain excited about our core group and are focused on our run towards a 2022 playoff berth.”

Liz Cambage called Nigerian players …

Liz Cambage called Nigerian players “monkeys” during a vicious five minute Las Vegas meltdown that led to the basketball superstar walking out on her Australian Opals teammates ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. A special Sunday Telegraph investigation has obtained video that clearly shows Cambage elbowing her Nigerian opponent in the head during a closed-door practice match in Las Vegas, setting off a shocking chain of events.

The Sunday Telegraph investigation also …

The Sunday Telegraph investigation also revealed Cambage told Nigerian players before the practice match that she wished she was playing for Nigeria because her Australian teammates were racist. An Opals player who attended the Las Vegas camp in June last year said Cambage’s outburst pushed the team to breaking point and was the final straw. “There had been so many behavioural issues that had gone on previously that we could write a book, but that (Vegas) incident happened to be the final straw which happened to be the worst one,” they said.

2022 WNBA season MVP futures: favorites, sleepers and predictions

Who do you have winning the MVP?

The countdown to opening night of WNBA’s 26th season has officially reached single digits. Training camps are well-underway, preseason games are happening and rosters are being trimmed to their regular-season form in preparation for the W’s May 6th start.

And while the fringe roster players are sweating out the days of training camp, wondering what their futures as WNBA players hold, the established players and team leaders are gearing up for what they hope will be a magical season. There are a select few who have the power to make that happen, we call those MVP candidates.

We take a look at the elite players’ odds to win the MVP award, while also pinpointing the sleepers and longshots.

Liz Cambage has a perfectly good reason for wanting to change the WNBA’s collective bargaining agreement

Liz Cambage is absolutely right.

A few weeks ago Liz Cambage set the internet ablaze with what some people perceived as a scathing take against Becky Hammon, who was hired as the coach of the Las Vegas Aces.

Cambage was testing the waters as a free agent and seemed to be on her way out the door, anyway. But it felt like the Hammon tweet sort of sealed the deal with it.

Hammon is set to make $1 million in her first year as the Aces head coach this season. Her deal is for five years, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

It wasn’t the fact that Hammon was hired that had Cambage a bit peeved. It was the fact that she was being paid $1 million in her first season, which is far more than the highest-paid WNBA players make.

That bothered Cambage. So she tweeted about it. It wasn’t about Hammon, in particular. It was about the WNBA’s pay structure and a lack of equity for players. But, of course, that’s not how it was taken. Folks like Nancy Lieberman popped out to shame Cambage and show support for Hammon, but they were completely missing the point.

So, to hammer it home, Cambage made an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Today to talk about her tweet and make clear what she wanted to say.

And her point is that the WNBA should really be rethinking their salary structure in their collective bargaining agreement.

“At the end of the day, my main issue is with the CBA. I know Nneka and the players association, they did such a great job of getting us a new collective bargaining agreement. But we have owners at the moment that want to do more for us…i.e., this Becky Hammon situation.

Ah, yup. There it is. She continued to explain what she meant by that.

“Becky Hammon is getting a million dollars a year. The salary cap is, what, $1. 4 [million] I think? So it’s tough to know that a few of us are already taking a salary cut to play here…I sat out five seasons because I get paid five to eight times more overseas than I do here in the WNBA. And it’s hard when you want to be at home…a lot of women go overseas to make their main money.” 

Cambage is absolutely right. The numbers bear it out. The WNBA salary cap is just over $1.4 million for the 2023 season. The supermax salary in the W is currently $228,094. Hammon is being paid nearly five times more than the highest-paid players in the WNBA right now. That just shouldn’t be.

And that isn’t to single out Hammon, who is absolutely being paid her worth by the Aces. But, regardless of that, WNBA players should be making much more when it’s very clear how much money owners have to spend.

That’s why Cambage believes there needs to be a new collective bargaining agreement for the players. The only issue, though, is that the current one doesn’t expire until 2028. So we’re stuck with this system for a while here.

Still, fans agreed with Cambage. There needs to be some sort of change in the W to make sure this isn’t a thing moving forward.