The Golden State Valkyries benefited tremendously from their expansion draft last December. Veronica Burton, Kayla Thornton, Temi Fagbenle, Iliana Rupert, Cecilia Zandalasini, Kate Martin, Monique Billings, and Carla Leite all ended up being key contributors to the team’s historic first season. Eventually, depending on the progress made in the CBA negotiations, the Valkyries will find themselves on the other side of an expansion draft.
The Tempo and Fire are set to join the league for the 2026 season and will also get a chance to pick players from the existing teams. The Valkyries have a deep pool of interesting players with valuable rookie contracts and a bunch of reserved and restricted free agents.
It will be impossible for the Valkyries to protect all the players they would like to keep around, and some key players won’t make the cut. In The Athletic’s mock expansion draft, Carla Leite was one of those players. Between Burton, Thornton, Rupert, Janelle Salaün, and Juste Jocyte, the Valkyries’ list of protected players will fill up quickly, and if Leite isn’t protected, no expansion team will pass on her.
Especially not after she just reminded everyone of her potential with a late-game scoring tear that led to a big EuroLeague win over Valencia.
Carla Leite led an impressive comeback against Valencia
Leite is spending the 2025-26 season playing for the Spanish club Casademont Zaragoza, one of the strongest teams in the Spanish league. Zaragoza hasn’t lost a single game in the Spanish league yet, but has suffered a few losses in EuroLeague action. The team secured its first EuroLeague win this month with a 70-63 victory over Valencia after being down 16 points going into the fourth quarter.
Zaragoza steadily clawed away at the 16-point deficit. With about two minutes left in the game, Valencia was still up 61-58, but couldn’t find any offense or a way to stop Zaragoza—Leite in particular—late in the game.
Leite finished the game with 25 points. Ten of those points came with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter. All of Leite’s three assists also came in the fourth quarter.
Leite has a high ceiling
The win over Valencia marked the second time this month that Leite exceeded the 20-point mark and the third consecutive game in which she scored in double figures. Leite thrives when she can attack the rim, but also isn’t afraid to shoot threes. She is also a good defender.
Leite is still only 21 years old and just completed her first WNBA season. As she gets older, develops more, and gains important experience, she will only get better, and her ceiling is very high. She could be a young building block for the Valkyries alongside Burton, Salaün, Rupert, and Jocyte. However, if the Valkyries truly want to compete for a championship soon, they may have to sacrifice some young talent to keep veteran contributors around—a decision that may lead them to leave Leite unprotected in the expansion draft.
If that is the case, the Tempo or Fire will certainly select her. Leite is still under team control through the 2027 season, has a lot of potential, and can contribute immediately due to her overseas experience.