Has Ex-Cal Star Layshia Clarendon Outplayed Sabrina Ionescu Since Switching Teams?

Veteran point guard has directed Minnesota to a 12-3 record after being cut by New York.

After three games this season — all of them victories — the New York Liberty cut veteran point guard Layshia Clarendon.

After all, did the Liberty really need the 30-year-old Cal alum?

They had Sabrina Ionescu, the No. 1 WNBA draft pick from the year before who was healthy and running the point in her second season.

Well, a funny thing happened on the way to the WNBA’s mid-season break for the Tokyo Olympics: Clarendon has outplayed the more heralded Ionescu, and the Liberty finds itself looking up at the Lynx in the standings.

Here’s how the two compare:

— Clarendon, who saw just three minutes of action in New York’s first three games before being released, has played 15 games for Minnesota since being signed on May 30, and is averaging 10.6 points, 5.5 assists, 3.4 rebounds while shooting 54.9 percent from the field. The Lynx is 12-3 over that span.

— Ionescu has played 19 games for the Liberty and is averaging 9.9 points, 6.0 assists, 4.9 rebounds and is shooting 35.2 percent from the floor. And New York, after its 3-0 start, has won just six of its past 16 games.

Clarendon debuted with Minnesota on May 30, having done no more than a game-day walk-through after signing with the team earlier in the day. He scored 12 points off the bench in an overtime win vs. Connecticut, the team's first victory after an 0-4 start to the season.

Ever since, Clarendon has been in the starting five.

Perhaps best known among casual sports fans as being the WNBA’s first openly trans and non-binary player, Clarendon has been better still during the Lynx’s current seven-game win streak, longest active run in the league.

In those seven games, he is averaging 14.1 points, 6.4 assists, 4.0 rebounds and shooting 62.9 percent, an impressive display of efficiency for a guard.

“Very grateful for the break. I can only speak for myself, can’t speak for everybody,” Clarendon told the St. Paul Pioneer Press after Sunday’s 86-61 win over the Los Angeles Sparks. “But with a team that’s had so many injuries, I think we’re really looking forward to having that break and getting some people back.

"We're jelling, we're meshing. Now what you're seeing is the chemistry finally starting to show through.”

Clarendon had 14 points and eight assists against Los Angeles on Sunday, and has scored in double figures the past six games. A day earlier, he posted 18 points, nine assists and five rebounds against Las Vegas, the first 15-point, five-assist, five-rebound performance of his career.

Now in their ninth WNBA season, Clarendon led Cal to its only Final Four appearance as a senior in 2013.

WNBA teams are off for the next month, allowing their players to participate in the Olympics.

The Lynx returns to action on Aug. 15 at home . . . against the New York Liberty in a game that will match Clarendon and Ionescu head-to-head.

Cover photo of Layshia Clarendon courtesy of the Minnesota Lynx

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo