Basketball On The Internet.

THE 2019 WNBA aspirations of South Australian Opals Nicole Seekamp and Cayla George were dealt a huge blow today when the duo was released by Dallas Wings.

Seekamp, 27 and a 178cm combo guard who captained MAC Adelaide Lightning to the WNBL Grand Final in 2018-19 - including scoring the winning basket on the buzzer in Game 2 to force a decider against Canberra – was the club’s MVP in 2017-18.

George (nee Francis), 30 and a 193cm power forward/centre, made her WNBL club debut with Lightning in 2008 before stints at Logan Thunder, Townsville Fire and Melbourne Boomers.

She has played extensively in Europe and also logged 89 WNBA games, 66 at Phoenix Mercury and 23 last season at Dallas, playing alongside Liz Cambage and averaging 3.6 points per game in 10.7 minutes of action.

Cambage sought and received a trade to Las Vegas Aces in one of the WNBA’s biggest off-season moves.

Seekamp had four points in Dallas’ preseason opener against Atlanta Dream, a pair of assists in a 71-67 win over Connecticut Sun, and one assist in 10 minutes today in a 66-71 loss to Indiana Fever.

George (pictured above) compiled six points, five rebounds and two assists in the Wings’ second preseason game but did not see action today.

The Fever’s lineup included WNBL imports Betnijah Laney (one point, five rebounds, one assist in 31 minutes), Asia Taylor (two points, two rebounds, two steals in 10 minutes) and Kayla Alexander (one rebound in 4:44).

Both Seekamp (below) and George are products of SA Country basketball, the former from Renmark in the Riverland, the latter from Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills.

They played their junior careers at Sturt Sabres and Eastern Mavericks respectively.

With their releases, the Wings now have 15 players on the roster and still have to cut three more by Thursday's roster deadline.

The WNBA regular season tips off on Friday, Dallas on the road to Atlanta.