Aces' Liz Cambage Expected to Miss 2020 WNBA Season for Health Reasons

Tyler Conway @jtylerconwayFeatured ColumnistJuly 5, 2020

FILE - In this Sept. 24, 2019, file photo, Las Vegas Aces' Liz Cambage (8) plays against the Washington Mystics during the first half of Game 4 of a WNBA playoff basketball series in Las Vegas. Cambage started a GoFundMe page to raise money to help after fires that have devastated her native Australia. The money raised will be divided and distributed equally between many groups, including the Australian Red Cross Disaster Recovery and Relief and World Wildlife Foundation Australia. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

John Locher/Associated Press

Las Vegas Aces center Liz Cambage will likely miss the 2020 WNBA season because a preexisting condition puts her at high risk if she were to contract COVID-19.

"In the evaluation of Liz Cambage's health and preexisting risk factors with her team doctor, we believe her to be at high risk for severe illness if she contracts COVID-19 in participating this WNBA season," Cambage's agent, Allison Galer, told Doug Feinberg of the Associated Press on Saturday. "We are awaiting the league's determination based on an independent physician panel."

Galer did not disclose Cambage's condition. The panel of independent physicians will determine whether Cambage will receive her full salary for the 2020 season. There are a "handful" of players who have applied to be able to sit out because of a medical condition.

Teams are scheduled to begin traveling to Florida on Monday for quarantine, ahead of the tip-off of the WNBA season later this month.

Cambage, the 2018 WNBA scoring leader, made her third All-Star team in 2019. She has played in only four seasons since making her WNBA debut in 2011, instead choosing to play in China and Australia from 2013-2018.

"Liz is a generational talent and we are going to miss her this season on the court and in the locker room," Aces general manager Dan Padover said. "She has been incredibly active this offseason in the community raising money to support first responders who battled the brush fires in Australia, continuing to shine a light on mental health awareness, and standing at the forefront of the peaceful protests in her country battling social and racial inequality, and I have no doubt that she will continue to do so this summer.

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"Although Liz won't be with us in Florida, she has our full support, and will continue to be a part of the Aces family and the city of Las Vegas for many years to come."

Cambage's absence will leave a sizable hole in the Aces' lineup and take away another marketable star from a league that's already without Maya Moore, who is not playing basketball in 2020 to focus on social justice causes.