Lorela Cubaj, a 6-foot-4 big, born in Italy to Balkan parents, is name familiar to women’s hoops fans.
And for good reason.
Over her five seasons at Georgia Tech (2017-22), she was a two-time winner of three major honors: All-ACC, ACC All-Defensive and ACC Defensive Player. Those accolades and more made her a second-round pick in the 2022, draft No. 18 overall by the Seattle Storm.
While she would never play in Seattle, she did see WNBA action with the New York Liberty and Atlanta Dream, playing 11
games for New York in 2022 and 31 games for Atlanta across the 2023 and 2024 seasons. Since then, she’s made Europe her permanent hooping home, playing for the Italian club Umana Reyer Venezia, in addition to the Italian national team.
She’s been a dominant figure on the international stage, known for her defensive play and passing ability.
Swish Appeal talked to her about developing court vision, Albanian culture and why Atlanta is her home away from home.
On choosing Georgia Tech over other college offers:
For me, Georgia Tech was a no-brainer because I also had the luck to share my college experience with other Italians, you know, like I was with Francesca Pan for three years and then with Antonia Peresson for one year. She was my senior. I was very lucky to have them. So, it was kind of like a good transition because the school was amazing.
The ACC is an amazing conference to play in, very tough. [Georgia Tech’s] location is perfect because it’s Atlanta and it’s in the city. I’m used to [living in] the city, so for me going to a college town would have been probably harder. It’s not too cold, it’s not too hot; it’s just on the east coast. Those are the factors that actually made me choose Georgia Tech, but yeah, I definitely had other options and I remember one of them was Oregon. But at the end of the day, it was too far.
On returning to Atlanta and playing for the Dream:
I loved it because Atlanta is my second home and I was close to the people that, after my family, I love the most. I have very strong bonds and good relationships with the people that are in Georgia Tech. I feel like that was a full-circle moment; okay, I played here as a college player and now as a pro player I’m able to come back and be in the same place. [The move] just made sense and I loved it.
I love Atlanta. That’s my third home as we said before. I’m forever grateful for the opportunity and I hope that in the future I will be able to come back.
A special thank you to Stefano Luigini of Luigini Development for arranging the interview.
