Former South Carolina basketball star to play in 2nd professional league after WNBA season

South Carolina basketball alum Kamilla Cardoso has been playing the best ball of her professional career since the WNBA returned from its break for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Since the league's return, Cardoso has averaged 12.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1.6 blocks per game on 64.4% shooting from the field. During that stretch, she has recorded new single-game career-high numbers for points (18), rebounds (15), blocks (5), assists (3), and steals (2) and has recorded just 2 total turnovers.

After missing the start of the WNBA season with a shoulder injury, Cardoso was able to get fully healthy during the Olympic break and is returning to top form. The former Gamecock has joined with fellow Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese to become one of the most formidable young frontcourts in the entire league.

Cardoso's solid August has paid dividends for her. Over the weekend, news broke that the Brazilian center will spend her WNBA offseason playing in another professional league as she signed a deal with the Shanghai Swordfish of the Women's Chinese Basketball Association, something that Brazilian basketball reporter Roberta Rodrigues confirmed on Twitter/X. Cardoso will join the WCBA team sometime this fall after the WNBA season ends.

For the rest of this WNBA campaign, Cardoso and the Sky will be fighting for a postseason berth. Chicago sits on the 8-seed line right now (8 teams make the WNBA playoffs) and will draw a tough matchup in the WNBA Playoffs first round, likely against the New York Liberty.

During her South Carolina basketball career, Kamilla Cardoso spent three years in Columbia, winning two National Championships and making it to another Final Four. She was an All-American (2023-2024), the SEC Defensive Player of the Year (2023-2024), and the SEC 6th Woman of the Year (2022-2023). During her junior season, she partnered with Aliyah Boston to form the most formidable Gamecock post line in program history.