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.
Cubaj started playing basketball when she was 8. She won the Italian U18 championship with Umana Reyer Venezia in the 2016–17 season.[1]
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]
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]
Stats current as of game on July 17, 2024
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]