Lorela Cubaj

Lorela Cubaj

Cubaj warming up for the Atlanta Dream in 2024
No. 13–Umana Reyer Venezia
Position	Forward
League	WNBA Lega Basket Femminile
Personal information
Born	(1999-01-08) January 8, 1999 (age 26) Terni, Italy
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school	Istituto Paritario Giuseppe Parini (Mestre, Italy)
College	Georgia Tech (2017–2022)
WNBA draft	2022: 2nd round, 18th overall pick
Drafted by	Seattle Storm
Playing career	2015–present
Career history
2015–2017	Umana Reyer Venezia
2022	New York Liberty
2022–present	Umana Reyer Venezia
2023–present	Atlanta Dream
Career highlights
Lega Basket Femminile champion (2024) 2× ACC Defensive Player of the Year (2021, 2022) 2× First-team All-ACC (2021, 2022)
Stats at Basketball Reference
Medals Women's Basketball Representing   Italy EuroBasket 2025 Greece U17 World Championship 2016 Spain U16 European Championship 2015 Portugal

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. ^[1] 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

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game	RPG	Rebounds per game
APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game	BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game
TO	Turnovers per game	FG%	Field-goal percentage	3P%	3-point field-goal percentage	FT%	Free-throw percentage
Bold	Career best	°	League leader

WNBA

Regular season

Stats current through end of 2024 season

WNBA regular season statistics ^[6]

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2022	New York	11	0	8.0	.333	—	—	2.1	0.4	0.0	0.2	0.5	0.7
2023	Atlanta	3	0	6.3	.000	—	—	2.3	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	0.0
2024	Atlanta	28	1	7.9	.429	—	.600	1.5	0.5	0.3	0.1	0.4	1.2
Career	3 years, 2 teams	42	1	7.8	.396	—	.600	1.7	0.5	0.2	0.1	0.4	1.0

Playoffs

WNBA playoff statistics

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2024	Atlanta	2	0	11.0	.500	—	—	2.5	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	1.0
Career	1 year, 1 team	2	0	11.0	.500	—	—	2.5	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	1.0

College

NCAA statistics ^[7]

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	TO	PPG
2017–18	Georgia Tech	34	32	20.6	32.9	16.7	46.2	4.4	1.5	1.4	0.8	1.5	3.7
2018–19	Georgia Tech	30	29	28.3	40.9	25.0	50.0	7.3	2.0	1.5	1.0	2.3	7.0
2019–20	Georgia Tech	31	30	34.2	44.9	28.0	57.8	7.7	2.5	1.2	1.2	1.9	10.0
2020–21	Georgia Tech	26	26	33.3	43.9	19.4	59.2	11.5	2.8	1.3	1.3	2.3	12.5
2021–22	Georgia Tech	32	32	33.6	42.0	17.4	67.0	11.1	4.3	1.4	1.3	2.1	10.0
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. ^{[8] [9]} 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. ^[10] 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. ^[11]

References

1. "L'orogranata Lorela Cubaj giocherà in NCAA con Georgia Tech". www.legabasketfemminile.it (in Italian). June 1, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
2. "Jackets Fall to South Carolina in NCAA Sweet 16". ramblinwreck.com. March 28, 2021. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
3. "Cubaj Selected in WNBA Draft by New York Liberty". ramblinwreck.com. April 11, 2022. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
4. New York Liberty [@nyliberty] (July 1, 2022). "Thank you, @LorelaCubaj for your hard work and dedication on and off the court.🗽" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
5. "UFFICIALE: LORELA CUBAJ TORNA ALL'UMANA REYER". www.reyer.it (in Italian). June 15, 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
6. "Lorela Cubaj WNBA Stats". Basketball Reference.
7. "Lorela Cubaj College Stats". Sports-Reference . Retrieved April 16, 2024.
8. "Lorela Cubaj stats at the 2015 U16 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN". archive.fiba.com. Archived from the original on February 17, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
9. "Ramos crowned MVP, headlines All-Star Five". FIBA Europe. 23 August 2015. Archived from the original on 26 August 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
10. "Lorela Cubaj stats at the 2016 U17 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN". fiba.basketball. Retrieved April 30, 2022.
11. "Lorela Cubaj stats at the 2016 U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN". fiba.basketball. Retrieved April 30, 2022.

External links

• Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets bio