Carla Leite has effectively turned around the biggest weakness from her rookie season

When Carla Leite made her WNBA debut with the Golden State Valkyries, she established herself as a fun young talent and a spark plug off the bench. The potential was obvious, but so were her biggest areas of improvement.

One thing that jumped out most was Leite’s inefficiency as a rookie. She shot just 38.7% from the field and 17.3% from deep. She cleaned that up very quickly.

The Portland Fire selected Leite in the expansion draft and made her their starting point guard. She has thrived in the bigger role, growing immensely as a playmaker and scoring much more efficiently despite taking more shots.

Carla Leite is an efficient scorer now

Coming off the bench for the Valkyries, Leite averaged just six shot attempts in 17.2 minutes per game. This year, her minutes are up to 25.4 per game, and she’s taking 10.1 shots per game. Despite the increased responsibilities and shot attempts, her efficiency has skyrocketed.

Leite is now shooting 45% from the field and 38.2% from three. She more than doubled her 3-point percentage. Leite also gets to the line much more, averaging 6.3 free throws per game instead of 2.7, and converts 88.2% of those shots.

Portland head coach Alex Sarama has put Leite in a position to capitalize on her speed with the ball in her hands and her ability to get to the rim—which she exploited mercilessly against Caitlin Clark in a big 100-84 win in May—while also allowing her to grow as an outside shooter and playmaker.

This is just the beginning

Portland was beyond lucky that the Valkyries had a group of veteran players they needed to protect in the expansion draft because Leite is someone they can build around for years to come. She is just 22 years old.

Leite had experience playing professionally in Europe before coming to the W, but it still took her some time to adjust to that next level. Now that she’s getting more and more comfortable, she will only continue to get better.

At 22 and in her second season, she is already one of just six players who average at least 15 points and 5 assists per game. The others are Caitlin Clark, Jackie Young, Olivia Miles, Paige Bueckers, and Kelsey Plum—all of whom were named All-Stars this year. If Leite continues her rapid rise, she could be the Fire’s first All-Star post-revival as soon as next season.

Add us as a preferred source on Google