On February 20, the Los Angeles Sparks officially announced that they had reached a deal with the Chicago Sky, sending this year's No. 8 pick to the Chicago Sky in exchange for the signing rights of Julie Allemande, Li Yueru and a 2025 three-year-old. Draft pick.
At present, Li Yueru has returned to the Turkish team Besiktas Women's Basketball Team after completing the Olympic qualifying matches with the Chinese Women's Basketball Team.
Although this deal does not mean that Li Yueru can return to WNBA immediately in the new season, his initiative to study abroad and play in the Turkish league in the past year has shown people a little treasure who is eager to improve.
Li Yueru (right) represents the Chinese women’s basketball team.
Everyone gets what they want
After the deal between the Los Angeles Sparks and the Chicago Sky was reached, Chicago Sky general manager Jeff Pagliocca said this: "The 2024 first-round draft will allow us to acquire a valuable player. players to provide a guarantee for our lineup."
Prior to this, the Chicago Sky team was called the team with the biggest changes in the offseason.
head coach and general manager James Wade left in the middle of last year's season and went to the NBA as an assistant coach, so the team hired Jeff Pagliocca as the new general manager and Teresa Weatherspoon as the new general manager. Head coach. After
's new management team joined the team, the Chicago Sky also completed a big deal that shocked the league - two weeks ago, they sent the team's core Kaalia Koper to the Phoenix Mercury in exchange for four Draft picks, including the No. 3 pick in 2024, and two players, Brianna Turner and Mikayla Oyenville.
Li Yueru plays on behalf of the Chicago Sky.
As the 2021 wnba finals mvp, Copper is the only remaining core member of the Sky team's road to the championship three years ago. This is why espn described her departure as "Chicago has entered a new era."
After Li Yueru's deal is completed, the Chicago Sky will have the No. 3 and No. 8 picks in the first round on draft day on April 15. and the No. 1 pick in the second round (No. 13 overall), the draft pick is the centerpiece of the deal for the rebuilding Chicago Sky.
In contrast, espn clearly wrote that it is still uncertain whether Li Yueru will participate in the new WNBA season in 2024.
However, Sparks head coach Kurt Miller's evaluation of Li Yueru is not bad, "She performed very well in Turkey this season and will also play an important role in the Chinese women's basketball team's next Olympic journey. Li Yueru's He has an excellent body shape and will provide good help to the team's inside line in the future."
Li Yueru (right) defends Han Xu in the WNBA arena.
Make a choice and seek progress
For Li Yueru, joining the Los Angeles Sparks, which has not made the playoffs for three consecutive years, will obviously give him more opportunities than the championship team Chicago Sky. But whether he can compete in the WNBA League in the new season, The biggest problem is time.
According to the plan, the wnba league of the 2024 season will hold a training camp on April 28, start the regular season on May 14, and last until the end of the regular season on September 19. The playoffs will start on September 22, and the finals will end on October 20 at the latest.
But in the Olympic year, the Chinese women's basketball team will make more systematic preparations for the Paris Olympics. Li Yueru is destined to be unable to fully participate in the new WNBA season. How to balance between the national team and WNBA is also a problem she must face.
As early as when Li Yueru competed in the WNBA league in 2022, similar conflicts occurred.
In Li Yueru’s heart, the Chinese women’s basketball team always comes first.
Before the game between the Chicago Sky and the New York Liberty, Chicago Sky head coach James Wade criticized this, "The most disappointing thing is that Han Xu will play against us tomorrow. I think (the Chinese team) decided to take away Li Yueru instead of Han Xu, which is very unfair, which makes me sad."
However, the new club Los Angeles Sparks attach great importance to Li Yueru - according to "We Love Women's Basketball" , this time joining the Sparks, the team promised to give Li Yueru stable playing time. This also proves from the side that there is good communication between Li Yueru and the new team.
At the same time, the Los Angeles Sparks have a close relationship with Chinese players. Zheng Haixia, the first Chinese player to enter the WNBA, was selected by the Los Angeles Sparks with the 16th overall pick in the second round of 1997. In February 2023, the Los Angeles Sparks also briefly signed Chinese player Yang Liwei.
Li Yueru is playing for Besiktas in Türkiye this season.
Find a different place to suffer
Li Yueru once said in an interview that competing in the WNBA has always been one of his goals. "I was in the Sky team before and was not able to express myself well due to injuries, but I want to try again. Try."
This is also the reason why she chose to go to Turkey to play, "Because there are many famous wnba players in this league. I hope to get closer contact with them, learn from them, and promote my own progress."
Since the end of the Hangzhou Asian Games, Li Yueru joined the Turkish team Besiktas. "WCBA was boring last year because we knew before the start that the champion was either the Sichuan team or us (Inner Mongolia), and then there was not much motivation throughout the season."
And this period of studying abroad During the trip, Li Yueru adapted well - before participated in the Women's Basketball Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Li Yueru averaged 17.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in the Turkish League, shooting 59.0% from the field, 30.0% from three-point range, and 77.2% from free throws. .
In the European Women's Club League, she averaged 14.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, shooting 57.5% from the field and 74.0% from the free throw line.
In her words, this journey abroad was "a different place to experience different hardships, and a new life." Now this wnba deal does not necessarily mean that Li Yueru will immediately return to the American basketball world, but her eagerness for progress does. Admirable enough.
