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Chicago Sky Get Bad News on Kamilla Cardoso

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Jun 5, 2025 3:16 PM ET

It's been about 10 years since Kamilla Cardoso left her home country of Brazil to pursue her career as a basketball player in the U.S., first to Tennessee for high school, then on to Syracuse to begin her collegiate basketball career and further to South Carolina, where she became a star playing for Dawn Staley.

When Cardoso spoke to FIBA.com about her friends and family back home, she admitted considerable nostalgia.

“I miss them 24/7,” Cardoso said. “Sometimes when I’m in class, I think about them and I just cry. Missing them is the hardest part. But I was like, ‘I want to do this for real, not just for fun.’ I knew that coming to the United States, I’d get a great education, play basketball and do something I love.”

Kamilla Cardoso (Chicago Sky) and Damiris Dantas (Indiana Fever) made the list for AmericupW. I am being told that they are guaranteed to show up for the competition which takes place from June 28 to July 6 in Santiago, Chile, and will miss WNBA games during that time. pic.twitter.com/yiaHUCoWPp
— Roberta F. Rodrigues (@robertawbb) June 4, 2025

Cardoso, of course, moved on from a national championship at South Carolina to become the No. 4 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, by the Chicago Sky. After a promising but injury-marred rookie year, Cardoso is still feeling her way under a new Chicago Sky coach (Tyler Marsh) and system. She is averaging 11.3 points and 6.5 rebounds, though he minutes have come down, to just 22.0 per game.

Cardoso had her best game of the season on May 29, with 23 points and eight rebounds, but struggled with foul trouble (still her biggest issue) in her next time out, finishing with four points and five fouls.

For Cardoso, there was some exciting news this week, as she named one of the players who will represent Brazil in the FIBA 2025 Women's Americup in Chile.

While it is promising for her and for Brazil, the tournament will be played from June 28-July 6, which is smack in the heart of the WNBA schedule. Cardoso will miss at least the two games during that stretch--in L.A. and Minnesota--and likely a few games on either side of the tournament, as the Sky play the day before the start of the tournament, in Golden State, and two days after it, in Washington.

Cardoso will probably be out for the entire Sky four-game trip, then.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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