LAS VEGAS — Kamilla Cardoso caught the ball outside the arc, with A’ja Wilson — arguably the league’s best player — standing between her and the basket. Wilson’s hips were turned, though, and the lane was wide open. Cardoso needed only one dribble to beat her to the rim and score.
Though Cardoso was only 5-for-12 in the Sky’s loss, possessions like this stood out: attacking space, as her coach calls it.
It’s been a priority of her development this season. At 6-7 she has always been a force around the basket. Now the challenge is recognizing a simple but important truth: she is just as fast, powerful and smooth when she’s away from the basket as she is right next to it.
Learning to take up space has been a process throughout Cardoso’s career. In college at South Carolina, Dawn Staley wanted her to be more assertive — to tap into a monster inside that she thought Cardoso didn’t yet know existed.
Sky coach Tyler Marsh has seen flashes of that monster as a pro. But for a lottery pick and projected franchise cornerstone, Cardoso is sometimes deferential. After games she’ll often sit beside Angel Reese at the podium, shrugging at questions and saying, “I’m just here for moral support.”
She won’t be able to keep a low profile much longer. Reese’s future with the team is in flux, and even before that, Cardoso’s play had risen to a level that demanded more attention.
Opponents were the first to adjust. Since the All-Star break they’ve done everything they can to keep her from catching on the block — knowing that if she does, it’s a bucket.
“Her and [Brittney Griner] they just know how to get to their spots,” Wilson told the Sun-Times. “And it’s like: You cannot stop this.”
Cardoso ranks among the league’s most efficient high-volume scorers, converting 53% of her attempts.
Still, she is somewhat ambivalent about her performance this season. She told the Sun-Times last week her year “could have been much better.”
Though she feels she can improve everywhere, she recognizes that her play has surged since the All-Star break.
And it’s not just her scoring average — 14.6 points per game — that’s climbed. Everything else has, too. Her focus and attention to rebounding has improved. Her assist total jumped to 3.1 per game from 1.7 before the break. She’s defending well in space and staying disciplined without fouling.
A big part of that development has been her coming out of her shell within the team.
“People can consider her quiet,” former South Carolina teammate Aliyah Boston told the Sun-Times. “But when she’s super comfortable she’s always cracking jokes, always laughing.”
Her teammates have started to appreciate her one-liners and comic relief. Now when Rachel Banham makes goofy faces at her, Cardoso makes them back. They are, as one teammate put it, seeing “the real Kamilla.”
That’s translating on the court, too. She has become more vocal in practice and in games, taking ownership of the defense as the eyes of the back line.
“That’s something we talk about all the time: me having a better body language, energy, whatever the case may be,” Cardoso told the Sun-Times. “That’s something I’m working on.”
Nonetheless, the real Kamilla will probably always involve a little deference. When asked on Friday if she’s becoming a team leader, she said the team already had great ones.
But even in interviews, she’s speaking with more conviction. She told the Sun-Times on Friday that no matter their record, this is a “special group” that can finish strong.
“That’s the good thing about basketball,” Cardoso said. “It helps build a sisterhood.”