Lorela Cubaj Explained

Lorela Cubaj
Number:19
Team:Atlanta Dream
League:WNBA
Lega Basket Femminile
Position:Forward
Height Ft:6
Height In:4
Birth Date:8 January 1999
Birth Place:Perugia, Italy
High School:Istituto Paritario Giuseppe Parini
(Mestre, Italy)
College:
Draft League:WNBA
Draft Year:2022
Draft Round:2
Draft Pick:18
Draft Team:Seattle Storm
Career Start:2015
Years1:2015–2017
Team1:Umana Reyer Venezia
Team2:New York Liberty
Years3:2022–present
Team3:Umana Reyer Venezia
Years4:–present
Team4:Atlanta Dream
Highlights:
  • ACC Defensive Player of the Year (2021, 2022)
  • 2× First-team All-ACC (2021, 2022)
Show-Medals:yes

Lorela Cubaj (born January 8, 1999) is an Italian professional basketball player for the Atlanta Dream of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) and for Umana Reyer Venezia of the Lega Basket Femminile. She played college basketball at Georgia Tech. She was drafted by the Seattle Storm in the 2022 WNBA draft and played for the New York Liberty in the WNBA. She was waived by the team during her rookie season on July 1, 2022 after playing 11 games.

Playing career

Early years

Cubaj started playing basketball when she was 8. She won the Italian U18 championship with Umana Reyer Venezia in the 2016–17 season.[1]

College career

Cubaj signed with Georgia Tech the summer of 2017. She made the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen with the Yellow Jackets in 2021, where they were defeated by South Carolina. That match Cubaj scored 15 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.[2]

Professional career

On April 11, 2022, Cubaj was drafted 18th overall by the Seattle Storm in the 2022 WNBA draft and they traded her draft rights to New York immediately.[3] Cubaj played in 11 games for the Liberty during her rookie season before being waived on July 1, 2022.[4] On 15 June 2022 Cubaj was signed to Umana Reyer Venezia for the 2022–23 LBF season.[5]

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

Stats current as of game on July 17, 2024|-| align="left" | 2022| align="left" | New York| 11 || 0 || 8.0 || .333 || —|| — || 2.1 || 0.4 || 0.0 || 0.2 || 0.5 || 0.7|-| align="left" | 2023| align="left" | Atlanta| 3 || 0 || 6.3 || .000 || — || — || 2.3 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.3 || 0.3 || 0.0|-| align="left" | 2024| align="left" | Atlanta| 13 || 0 || 5.6 || .348 || — || 1.000 || 1.0 || 0.5 || 0.2 || 0.2 || 0.4 || 0.8|-| align="left" | Career| align="left" | 3 years, 2 teams| 27 || 0 || 6.7 || .348 || — || 1.000 || 1.6 || 0.4 || 0.1 || 0.2 || 0.4 || 0.7

College

|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2017–18| style="text-align:left;"| Georgia Tech|34||32||20.6||32.9||16.7||46.2||4.4||1.5||1.4||0.8||1.5||3.7|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2018–19| style="text-align:left;"| Georgia Tech|30||29||28.3||40.9||25.0||50.0||7.3||2.0||1.5||1.0||2.3||7.0|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2019–20| style="text-align:left;"| Georgia Tech|31||30||34.2||44.9||28.0||57.8||7.7||2.5||1.2||1.2||1.9||10.0|-| style="text-align:left;"| 2020–21| style="text-align:left;"| Georgia Tech|26||26||33.3||43.9||19.4||59.2||11.5||2.8||1.3||1.3||2.3||12.5 |-| style="text-align:left;"| 2021–22| style="text-align:left;"| Georgia Tech|32||32||33.6||42.0||17.4||67.0||11.1||4.3||1.4||1.3||2.1||10.0|- class="sortbottom"|style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career|153||149||29.7||41.7||21.3||58.4||8.3||2.6||1.3||1.1||2.0||8.5

National Team

Youth level

Cubaj won the bronze medal with the Italian team at the U16 European Championship in 2015, averaging 11 points and 6.6 rebounds and being voted to the tournament All-Star Five.[6] [7] One year later she won the silver medal with the Italian U17 team, at the 2016 U17 World Championship in Spain. They lost the final against Australia. At the tournament Cubaj averaged 6.1 points and 5.4 rebounds.[8] A few weeks later, she was part of the Italian U18 national team at the U18 European Championship in Hungary and finished seventh place. At the tournament Cubaj averaged 10.4 points and 7.3 rebounds.[9]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: L’orogranata Lorela Cubaj giocherà in NCAA con Georgia Tech. www.legabasketfemminile.it. it. June 1, 2017. April 30, 2022.
  2. Web site: Jackets Fall to South Carolina in NCAA Sweet 16 . ramblinwreck.com . March 28, 2021 . April 30, 2022.
  3. Web site: Cubaj Selected in WNBA Draft by New York Liberty . ramblinwreck.com . April 11, 2022 . April 30, 2022.
  4. 1542900907205169153. nyliberty. Thank you, @LorelaCubaj for your hard work and dedication on and off the court.. New York Liberty.
  5. Web site: UFFICIALE: LORELA CUBAJ TORNA ALL’UMANA REYER . www.reyer.it . it. June 15, 2022 . September 19, 2022.
  6. Web site: Lorela Cubaj stats at the 2015 U16 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN. archive.fiba.com. April 30, 2022.
  7. Web site: Ramos crowned MVP, headlines All-Star Five. 30 April 2022. FIBA Europe. 23 August 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150826020941/http://u16women.fibaeurope.com/en/compID_-aL-KlCzJc-SVAwk29g5d0.season_2015.roundID_10454.coid_QDRfeQWpHfY4y3KNB,1x-3.articleMode_on.html. 26 August 2015. dead.
  8. Web site: Lorela Cubaj stats at the 2016 U17 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN. fiba.basketball. April 30, 2022.
  9. Web site: Lorela Cubaj stats at the 2016 U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN. fiba.basketball. April 30, 2022.