The Canberra Capitals hope the signing of a marquee player will offset the looming departures of young guns Eziyoda Magbegor and Abbey Wehrung.
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Magbegor is set to move to the United States to play college basketball having visited the University of Connecticut and the University of California, Los Angeles in the past fortnight.
Wehrung has signed with the Bendigo Spirit, bringing her three-year stint in Canberra to an end as the 22-year-old moves closer to her family in Korweinguboora in Victoria.
The Capitals are set to announce a new signing on Thursday as the club looks to snap a seven-year finals drought, with 21-year-old Lauren Scherf currently the only contracted player.
The meteoric rise of 18-year-old Magbegor will continue after she was named in the Australian Opals squad for the Commonwealth Games.
The emerging forward has been christened by Australian coach Sandy Brondello as "the future of the Opals", and Capitals coach and Opals assistant Paul Goriss says the future is now.
Magbegor will look to help the Opals defend the gold medal they won in 2006 after she won the WNBL rookie of the year award in the 2017-18 season and impressed during a national team camp in Italy.
"I think we all know that she is a star and a player of the future," Goriss said.
"For her to make an Opals team and represent at the Commonwealth Games at 18 years of age is a testament to how talented she is.
"What she has done at both under 17s, under 19s and then in the WNBL, it's great to see those young kids get an opportunity to go and represent their country.
"For the first one for her to be in Australia at a Comm Games is pretty special."
Goriss recruited Magbegor to the Capitals last season and heralded her one of the best young players in the world, adamant she had the athletic ability and talent to live up to the billing.
She enjoyed a breakout rookie season and maintained a fearless approach when she was thrown in amongst Australia's leading basketballers in her first Opals camp.
"That's why I knew recruiting her and having her come and play, she had the athletic ability and she had the talent," Goriss said.
"It's just nurturing and developing her skill set so she could always come in and compete at the WNBL level because of some of the tools she has.
"She just carried on from the WNBL season to Opals without missing a beat. That's why we all know she's going to be a special player.
"She is not an Opal of the future anymore, she is now an Opal going to her first Comm Games. It's a great testament to her and the work she's done both at the AIS with all the national junior teams and obviously the Capitals.
"It's pretty exciting and special for her, and pretty exciting for us too, to be the first Capital to be a rookie of the year and making a Comm Games off the back of a WNBL season."
Canberra product Jesse Wagstaff is also Gold Coast-bound after the Perth Wildcats forward was named in the Boomers squad, while another Canberran Illawarra Hawks coach Rob Beveridge will coach Scotland.
Reigning Capitals most valuable player Nat Hurst won't be on the Gold Coast for the Commonwealth Games because she is ineligible for selection due to her playing commitments in Poland.
Hurst was on the Opals team camp in Italy, and the seven-time WNBL champion is set to join the Sunshine Coast in the Queensland Basketball League following a stint in Poland.
Opals squad: Stephanie Blicavs, Elizabeth Cambage, Katie Ebzery, Cayla George, Kelsey Griffin, Alice Kunek, Tessa Lavey, Eziyoda Magbegor, Jenna O'Hea, Nicole Seekamp, Belinda Snell, Stephanie Talbot.
Boomers squad: Angus Brandt, Jason Cadee, Mitchell Creek, Cameron Gliddon, Christopher Goulding, Matthew Hodgson, Nicholas Kay, Daniel Kickert, Damian Martin, Brad Newly, Nathan Sobey, Jesse Wagstaff.
