By Noah Velasco
A right shoulder injury delayed Chicago Sky rookie Kamilla Cardoso’s regular season WNBA debut, causing her to miss the first six games of her first season. Since working her way back from injury, Cardoso continues to exceed expectations after the Sky drafted her No. 3 overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft.
Cardoso began her WNBA career on a minute restriction following her injury but was still able to make a positive impact on the team right away.
“I feel like I’m coming back,” Cardoso said at the time. “The game is coming. I’m trusting the process, letting the game come to me and going with the flow.”
Her talents were on full display in her debut game, where she was entrusted to play 18 minutes off the bench in a matchup against her former collegiate teammate, Fever center Aliyah Boston.
Sky head coach Teresa Weatherspoon put Cardoso in a high leverage situation right away and Cardoso delivered, recording 11 points on 71.4% shooting to go along with six rebounds in 18 minutes of play.
Her first game as a professional came down to the wire as she checked back in with Chicago down six points with 5:55 left in the fourth quarter. Despite the Sky losing by a point, Cardoso finished as a game-high plus-11.
“It makes me feel like [Weatherspoon] trusts me and that’s all I need,” Cardoso said of playing in a high-leverage situation early in her career.
That trust stands out as she continues to draw starts on a team with several talented frontcourt pieces. Just 24 games into her professional career, Cardoso has started in 21 games and became a rotation staple, something that’s far from guaranteed in the WNBA even for top picks.
When her minutes and workload increased, Cardoso never looked back. She had a particularly strong six-game stretch where she averaged 8.5 points and 9.8 rebounds from June 16 to July 2.
During the productive stretch, she recorded the first two double-doubles of her career, something that drew praise from her teammates.
“I’m proud of [Cardoso] going out and getting a double-double” fellow rookie forward Angel Reese said. “That’s something you all are not gonna be able to stop. We’re here for a while and we’re not going to be denied.”
She’s only continued to grow after the All-Star/Olympic break. She notched a career-high 18 points on Aug. 23. Cardoso followed that up with a career-high five blocks on Aug. 25 and then stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and a career-high six assists on Aug. 28. Since the break, she’s averaging 12.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.8 blocks while making 65.3% of her field-goal attempts.
“My teammates and coaches show me a lot of love and support and that gives me confidence,” Cardoso said of her inspired play since the break.
Cardoso’s ability to attack mismatches in the paint is a big reason for the team’s increase in scoring and efficiency in their victories this season.
Currently, Chicago attempts a league-high 42.4 points in the paint per game in large part to the efforts of their rookie tandem. Cardoso scores 7.3 points per game from the paint, ranking second in the league among rookies behind only Reese (8.5).
Weatherspoon continues to utilize her frontcourt’s talents and is impressed with the dominance in the paint while continuing to be excited about its upside and room to grow.
“When you see it and you can continue to show it on film, this is how we want to look. This is how it has to look for us to be successful,” Weatherspoon said. “We’re growing in those areas so it looks really good for us to know that this is a paint-heavy team. They rebound well and they score from the rebounds they convert.”
As mentioned by Weatherspoon, the Sky are rebounding at an elite level with Cardoso helping lead the way. Chicago ranks first in the league with 37.5 rebounds per game. They’ve also long been dominant on the offensive glass, recording 11.5 per game. Their total rebounds and offensive rebounds per game would rank 13th and 25th, respectively, in WNBA history.
Cardoso is a significant part of that dominance, ranking second among all rookies in total (8.0) and offensive boards per game (3.1).
The rookie backcourt is both the highest offensive rebounding and overall rebounding duo in the league with Cardoso and Reese combining for 8.3 offensive rebounds and 20.9 total rebounds each night.
“It’s a process in the rebound, you can’t just go and snatch the glass,” Weatherspoon said. “Everyone is very, very talented in this league. So you have to use your gifts, you gotta make sure you stay fundamentally sound and being fundamentally sound means you gotta put a body on somebody and then go snatch the glass. We’re getting so much better at it … it’s paying off for us right now.”
Beyond her talents on the glass, Cardoso has also shown an ability to make the same kind of defensive impact that helped her alma mater become such a powerhouse in that regard. Among rookies with 20 or more games played, she ranks first in blocks per game.
With Cardoso making her WNBA presence felt at a young age, it has her teammates excited for what the future holds for one of the Sky’s centerpieces.
“I’ve never played with a post player that moves her feet so well, has great hands, runs up and down the court so fast and blocks shots,” Reese said. “I think she does a great job. It makes my job easy. I know she’s usually going to go and finish around the basket but she’s also a great passer as well. I just try to work with her and we work with each other and I think we’re building a good chemistry together because we’ll be here for a while.”