Lorela Cubaj
{{Short description|Italian basketball player (born 1999)}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name = Lorela Cubaj
| image = Lorela cubaj warm up 2024.jpg
| caption = Cubaj warming up for the Atlanta Dream in 2024
| width =
| number = 13
| team = Umana Reyer Venezia
| league = WNBA
Lega Basket Femminile
| position = Forward
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 4
| weight_lbs = 200
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1999|1|8}}
| birth_place = Perugia, Italy
| high_school = Istituto Paritario Giuseppe Parini
(Mestre, Italy)
| college =
- Georgia Tech (2017–2022)
| 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
| years2 = {{WNBA Year|2022}}
| team2 = New York Liberty
| years3 = 2022–present
| team3 = Umana Reyer Venezia
| years4 = {{WNBA Year|2023}}–present
| team4 = Atlanta Dream
| highlights =
- Lega Basket Femminile champion (2024)
- 2× ACC Defensive Player of the Year (2021, 2022)
- 2× First-team All-ACC (2021, 2022)
|show-medals=yes
|medaltemplates={{MedalSport |Women's Basketball}}
{{MedalCountry | {{ITA}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|U17 World Championship}}
{{MedalSilver|2016 Spain|Team Competition}}
{{MedalCompetition|U16 European Championship}}
{{MedalBronze|2015 Portugal|Team Competition}}
}}
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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.legabasketfemminile.it/Media/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=2425|title=L’orogranata Lorela Cubaj giocherà in NCAA con Georgia Tech|website=www.legabasketfemminile.it|language=it|date=June 1, 2017|access-date=April 30, 2022}}
=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.{{Cite web|url=https://ramblinwreck.com/jackets-fall-to-south-carolina-in-ncaa-sweet-16-032821-2/ |title=Jackets Fall to South Carolina in NCAA Sweet 16 |website=ramblinwreck.com |date=March 28, 2021 |access-date=April 30, 2022}}
=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.{{Cite web|url=https://ramblinwreck.com/cubaj-selected-in-wnba-draft-by-new-york-liberty/ |title=Cubaj Selected in WNBA Draft by New York Liberty |website=ramblinwreck.com |date=April 11, 2022 |access-date=April 30, 2022}} Cubaj played in 11 games for the Liberty during her rookie season before being waived on July 1, 2022.{{Cite tweet|number= 1542900907205169153|user=nyliberty|title=Thank you, @LorelaCubaj for your hard work and dedication on and off the court.🗽|author=New York Liberty}} On 15 June 2022 Cubaj was signed to Umana Reyer Venezia for the 2022–23 LBF season.{{Cite web|url=https://www.reyer.it/ufficiale-lorela-cubaj-torna-allumana-reyer/ |title=UFFICIALE: LORELA CUBAJ TORNA ALL’UMANA REYER |website=www.reyer.it |language=it| date=June 15, 2022 |access-date=September 19, 2022}}
Career statistics
{{WNBA player statistics legend}}
=WNBA=
==Regular season==
Stats current through end of 2024 season
{{WNBA player statistics start|caption=WNBA regular season statistics{{cite web |title=Lorela Cubaj WNBA Stats |url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/players/c/cubajlo01w.html |website=Basketball Reference}}}}
|-
| 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
|28|| 1 ||7.9||.429||—||.600||1.5||0.5||0.3||0.1||0.4|| 1.2
|- class="sortbottom"
| align="left" | Career
| align="left" | 3 years, 2 teams
| 42 || 1 || 7.8 || .396 || — || .600 || 1.7 || 0.5 || 0.2 || 0.1 || 0.4 || 1.0
{{s-end}}
==Playoffs==
{{WNBA player statistics start|caption=WNBA playoff statistics}}
|-
| style="text-align:left;"| 2024
| style="text-align:left;"| Atlanta
|2||0||11.0||.500||—||—||2.5||0.5||0.5||0.0||0.0||1.0
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:left;"| Career
| style="text-align:left;"| 1 year, 1 team
|2 || 0 || 11.0 || .500 || — || — || 2.5 || 0.5 || 0.5 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 1.0
{{S-end}}
=College=
{{WNBA player statistics start|caption=NCAA statistics{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/lorela-cubaj-1.html|title=Lorela Cubaj College Stats|publisher=Sports-Reference|accessdate=April 16, 2024}}}}
|-
| 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
{{S-end}}
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.{{cite web|url=https://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/107990/sid/10454/tid/307/tid2//_/2015_U16_European_Championship_Women/index.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217092012/http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/player/p/pid/107990/sid/10454/tid/307/tid2/_/2015_U16_European_Championship_Women/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 17, 2019|title=Lorela Cubaj stats at the 2015 U16 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN|publisher=archive.fiba.com|access-date=April 30, 2022}}{{cite web|title=Ramos crowned MVP, headlines All-Star Five|url=http://u16women.fibaeurope.com/en/compID_-aL-KlCzJc-SVAwk29g5d0.season_2015.roundID_10454.coid_QDRfeQWpHfY4y3KNB%2C1x-3.articleMode_on.html |accessdate=30 April 2022|publisher=FIBA Europe|date=23 August 2015|archive-url=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|archive-date=26 August 2015|url-status=dead}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.fiba.basketball/world/u17women/2016/player/Lorela-Cubaj#tab=event_data|title=Lorela Cubaj stats at the 2016 U17 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN|publisher=fiba.basketball|access-date=April 30, 2022}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u18women/2016/player/Lorela-Cubaj#tab=event_data|title=Lorela Cubaj stats at the 2016 U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN|publisher=fiba.basketball|access-date=April 30, 2022}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://ramblinwreck.com/roster/lorela-cubaj/ Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets bio]
{{Atlanta Dream current roster}}
{{2022 WNBA draft}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cubaj, Lorela}}
Category:Atlanta Dream players
Category:Forwards (basketball)
Category:Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's basketball players
Category:Italian expatriate basketball people in the United States
Category:Italian women's basketball players
Category:New York Liberty players
Category:Seattle Storm draft picks