South Carolina women's basketball: Kamilla Cardoso discusses her decision to enter the WNBA Draft
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South Carolina’s All-American post Kamilla Cardoso announced on Monday that she will not use her extra Covid year of eligibility and will declare for the WNBA Draft. On Thursday, Cardoso explained her decision and the timing of the announcement.
Cardoso said she made the decision “literally on Monday.”
“I made my decision on Monday morning. I took a long time to think about it,” she said. “It was a really hard decision for me to make because I got really close to this team. I love every single one of these girls. So just thinking about this will be like my last time playing with them is hard, it hurt my heart. But I know they are going to support me no matter what. And I’m just ready to take the next step.”
As for the timing, she said she was tired of being asked about her decision.
“To take the pressure out of me,” Cardoso said. “You’re obviously asking me what is your decision, what is your decision, and I was tired of answering the question.”
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Now she has to answer why, but Cardoso said that is easier.
“I feel like he helps me play a little more free,” she said. “I feel like there was a lot of pressure on me. Like I said, like just having all these people come in interviewing me asking me what is your decision? What is the decision? It was a lot of pressure. So I feel like I just took the pressure off of my shoulders and I’m just gonna go out there, have fun with my teammates and play our best basketball.”
Raven Johnson, who has played with Cardoso since she first came to the US, asked Cardoso for one more year, but it didn’t work. Now she has to hope they end up on the same WNBA team.
“It was it was on April 1 so I thought it was April Fool’s,” Johnson said. “But I know it wasn’t April Fool’s. I’m very excited for her. I think she’s ready for the next level. She’s definitely gonna kill. She prepared for moments like this, the way she grew and developed her game. Her family’s gonna be very proud of her because of the way that she developed from when she first got here to now and the way she thinks of the game. I think she has a great IQ for the game and the coaches on the next level just going to develop her more.”
Cardoso said it is a gut feeling that the time is right.
“I feel like I was ready to take the step to the next level, even though this isn’t over, we have one more game, and hopefully we can win and go to the next one. But just the feeling of I’m ready for the next level.”
Dawn Staley also hoped it was an April Fool’s joke, but she said the conversation with Cardoso was a short one because they both knew it was the right decision.
“She did it on April Fools. She didn’t tell y’all it was a joke?” Staley said. “I had one discussion with Kamilla about it, and it was (Monday). So I met with her (Monday) in the afternoon and she told me that’s what she decided to do. There was no trying to get her to come back. We’ve been through this with a lot of our players. I want to walk them to the next level. When they’re prepared, when I feel like they have done enough on this level and the only thing that can help them is being on that level. Kamilla’s in that position. She’s been in our program for three years now. She played a role for us in the first two, and now she plays the focal point. Anytime you play the focal point in our program, it expedites your ability to be able to make the jump to the WNBA. And I do feel like her making the jump will only mean that her best basketball is ahead of her. I mean, there’s so much more to her game that will be had because when you go to the next level and you’re playing with like-minded players, you’ve got no choice but to elevate. And she’ll do that at the next level.”
Staley’s confidence reassured Cardoso.
“Yeah, just talking to Coach Staley, she’s telling me I think you are ready,” Cardoso said. “It made me have more confidence making my decision. Like okay, she thinks I’m ready. She’s the best in the business. So if she’s telling me I’m ready, she knows I’m ready.”
