Basketball player, Liz Cambage, who called Nigerian players ‘monkeys’ axed

Liz Cambage in action

Basketball player, Liz Cambage, who called Nigerian players ‘monkeys’ axed

Liz Cambage in action
Liz Cambage in action

Aussie basketball player, Liz Cambage, has been axed by her team, the WNBA powerhouse Los Angeles Sparks, for racially abusing Nigerian players.

Cambage has been notorious for bursting veins and stirring controversies with the latest being the racial slurs against Nigerian players.

The Sparks released a statement on Tuesday saying they had agreed to a ‘contract divorce’ with the controversial Aussie, after rumours that the recent free agent acquisition had quit the club.

After two heated scuffles during the scrimmage in Las Vegas prior to the Games, it was alleged Cambage called a member of the Nigerian team ‘monkeys’ after elbowing one of her opponents in the neck and slapping another in the face, reports the Daily Mail.

For her string of controversies, Cambage didn’t take part in the Tokyo Olympics last year after the alleged incident during a pre-Games trial against Nigeria.

The incident left both Opals teammates and Nigerian players gobsmacked that someone with a Nigerian father would use the crude remark.

Cambage has continued to deny the reports, and didn’t go to the Olympics, citing mental health issues.

Since being a highly-touted second pick of the 2011 WNBA Draft, Cambage has flirted with a number of clubs in a stop-start career.

Despite being drafted 11 years ago by the Tulsa Shock, Cambage has only played in only five WNBA seasons – though she has still managed to secure four All-Star jerseys.

She sat out 2012 to prepare for the London Olympics with the Australian Opals and took a four-year hiatus from the league from 2014-2017 because she didn’t want to play in Tulsa, Oklahoma.