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Sparks add Liz Cambage as another major offseason signing

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Liz Angeles, they’re calling it.

The Sparks made it official Friday morning: They’ve signed Liz Cambage, the dynamic Australian center and four-time All-Star – an addition they hope will put them in title contention to bring a fourth WNBA title to Los Angeles this season.

After missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade last summer, Derek Fisher – the Sparks’ head coach and general manager – went all in revamping the roster, including capping a flurry of offseason activity by signing Cambage, a free agent who played the past two seasons for the Las Vegas Aces.

The 6-foot-8 center is the centerpiece of a roster overhaul that also brought in flashy 23-year-old guard Chennedy Carter, two-time WNBA champion point guard Jordin Canada and 3-point threat Katie Lou Samuelson, the latter two of whom are native Southern Californians.

“It’s always been my dream to wear the purple and gold and play in L.A.,” Cambage, 30, said in a news release. “This is an incredible opportunity to compete for a championship alongside Nneka (Ogwumike), Kristi (Toliver), and a deep, talented team. I’m grateful to Coach (Derek) Fisher and the Sparks ownership group for their player-first approach and commitment to winning on and off the court.

“I’m ready to pour everything I have into this team and the legendary Sparks fans.”

In five WNBA seasons, the outspoken and sometimes provocative Cambage averaged 16.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting 54.4% from the field.

The Sparks – who averaged a league-low 72.8 points per game last summer, when they were hit hard by injuries in their first season without All-Stars Candace Parker and Chelsea Gray, who both departed in free agency – add the 2018 WNBA scoring champion.

Cambage joins a roster that, in addition to the recent acquisitions, includes veterans Nneka Ogwumike, Toliver and Chiney Ogwumike, who have 11 All-Star appearances between them – but who played in just 44 of a possible 96 games last season, held back by injuries. The Sparks also bring back Brittany Sykes, a WNBA All-Defensive Team selection each of the past two seasons.

Fisher – who is 49-39 in three seasons as the Sparks’ coach – said in the release that the organization is thrilled about the Cambage signing, which was for $170,000, below the maximum, in order to ease its salary cap burden and allow the team to carry 12 players, according to a source.

“The Sparks organization is ecstatic to partner with a dynamic person and player in Liz Cambage who will elevate the franchise on and off the court,” Fisher said. “At her best, Liz is the most dominant women’s basketball player in the world. She scores efficiently inside, can stretch the floor, and is a good passer. She’s also one of the league’s best rim protectors and rebounds at a high level.

“The addition of Liz, along with our other offseason moves, puts us in a position to compete for a WNBA championship.”

She will wear a new yet-to-be determined number and not her customary No. 8 in L.A., in deference to DeLisha Milton-Jones, the Sparks great who wore that number when she helped lead them to consecutive titles in 2001 and ’02.

Cambage set the record for most points in a WNBA game when she scored 53 as a member of the Dallas Wings on July 17, 2018 – one of the highlights in a season she was WNBA MVP runner-up after averaging a league-leading 23.0 points on 58.9% shooting, as well as 9.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.7 blocks per game.

Cambage also garnered recognition as a member of the All-WNBA First Team that year, and was on the All-WNBA Second Team in 2019. She made the All-Rookie Team in 2011.

On Thursday, Carter said in her introductory video conference that she would love to play with Cambage.

“It’s like Shaq and Kobe,” Carter said. “It’s a combination to where you have to really pick and choose and really be on your Ps and Qs – as you said, I can get to the rim, I can find my teammates, and I definitely can find the post player.

“So if I get that 5, it’s definitely gonna be trouble.”

Carter took to social media to echo those thoughts when the news became official Friday morning, tweeting: “aww man it’s trouble in LA at all positions.” And Canada, the former UCLA star, replied in agreement: “I’m sayingg, this summer will be a problem.”

Cambage also has played for the Australian Olympic team, earning bronze in 2012 and reaching the quarterfinals in 2016. She didn’t play at the 2020 Olympics, citing mental health reasons.

She previously played for Sparks assistant coach Fred Williams when he was the head coach in Dallas. He joined Fisher’s staff after he was fired by the Wings, and his connection with Cambage added to the expectation that she has long wanted to play in L.A.

Instead, she joined the Aces, for whom she averaged 15.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game in her two-year tenure.

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Cambage has never been hesitant to speak – or tweet – her mind, including on Feb. 1, the start of WNBA free agency, when she reacted to the news that Becky Hammon, a coach for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs since 2014, would earn $1 million to coach the Aces this season by criticizing the league’s current pay structure.

“ahhh yes the @WNBA where a head coach can get paid 4X the highest-paid players supermax contract,” she wrote. “lmao and y’all think imma spend another season upgrading my seat on a flight to get to games out of my own pocket.”

That sentiment – about having to upgrade her own seat – cast some doubt on whether Cambage would even return to the WNBA this season.

She will – and she’ll do as a part of the suddenly star-studded-again Sparks.

Welcome to LA, Liz. Let’s Get to Work.@ecambage | #GoSparks pic.twitter.com/E0qxND44Sz

— Los Angeles Sparks (@LASparks) February 18, 2022

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