Cayla George -- a four-time WNBL champion and the league's reigning MVP -- has signed a three-year deal with the Sydney Flames, sources told ESPN.
The third year of the deal is a mutual option, sources said, with George set to join a revamped Flames team following her WNBA season with the Las Vegas Aces.
George is coming off her fifth season with the Melbourne Boomers, where she averaged 18.5 points and 11.3 rebounds per game; she won the WNBL's Most Valuable Player award, and was named to her third career All-WNBL First Team. George finished the 2022-23 season second in the league in scoring, and first in rebounding.
George joins Tess Madgen as players who have made the jump from the Boomers to the Flames this off-season, with both reuniting with former Melbourne head coach, Guy Molloy, in Sydney.
The 6'4 big is a 15-year WNBL veteran, winning four titles -- three with the Townsville Fire, and most recently the 2022 championship with the Boomers -- as one of the league's premier local players. George has had multiple stints in the WNBA, having played for the Phoenix Mercury, Dallas Wings, and currently the Aces.
George has been a staple on the Australian Opals for the past decade, representing her country in two Olympic Games and three World Cups. She was a member of the Opals team that won a bronze medal at the 2022 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Sydney.
George, 34, joins Madgen, Lauren Nicholson, Emma Clarke, and Kiera Rowe as contracted players on the Flames' roster for the 2023-24 WNBL season.
The Flames recently lost Tiana Mangakahia to retirement, with the star guard diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer.
The first round of the upcoming WNBL season is set to begin on November 1, 2023.
