LAS VEGAS -- Aces center Liz Cambage expects to make her 2019 WNBA season debut on Friday on the road against the Phoenix Mercury (ESPN2, 10 p.m. ET).

Cambage, the 6-foot-8 Australian star who was traded from Dallas to Las Vegas on May 16, did not play in the Aces' 83-70 season-opening win Sunday over the Los Angeles Sparks because she has been dealing with a flare-up of Achilles tendinitis.

"I feel like I could have played today, but we've got a plan, and I need to follow it," Cambage said after Sunday's victory. "I wanted to be out there so bad, but the girls didn't even need me tonight. The plan has me playing on Friday, so I'll be back on Friday."

Cambage was the runner-up in MVP voting last season, during which she set the WNBA single-game-scoring record with 53 points. She averaged a league-high 23.0 points and 9.7 rebounds.

Cambage's last game action was in the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup last September, after which she took a break to try to get fully healthy.

On Friday, she'll have a chance to go against another premier center, Phoenix's Brittney Griner. Cambage has been in Las Vegas for only a week but seems to already feel at home with coach Bill Laimbeer's Aces.

"I've been here seven days, and I don't think the smile has left my face during that time," Cambage said.