Phoenix Mercury sign Latvian forward Kitija ‘Kit’ Laksa to guaranteed contract
The Mercury signed Latvian forward Kitija ‘Kit’ Laksa to a guaranteed contract on Wednesday. Laska currently plays in Italy and has never played in the WNBA before.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury signed Latvian forward Kitija ‘Kit’ Laksa to a guaranteed contract on Wednesday.
The deal is for one year and $80,000, per Richard Cohen of Her Hoop Stats.
The 28-year-old Latvian international currently plays in Italy for Beretta Famila Schio and is averaging 15.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists in EuroLeague play.
Much to the delight of Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts’ high-volume 3-point offense, Laska is shooting 41.7% from three and leads the EuroLeague in three-pointers made (30).
During the 2024 EuroLeague season she played for Turkish side Fenerbahçe and helped them to a EuroLeague championship and Turkish Cup win.
The 6-foot-1 forward also attended the University of South Florida and is third in career points per game (17.8) at USF. At South Florida, she was also named the AAC Freshman of the Year in 2016.
Laska was drafted 11th overall in the 2020 WNBA draft by the Seattle Storm.
She signed a deal with Seattle after the draft but did not play at all during the 2020 season and was waived by the team after training camp in 2021.
She has yet to play in the WNBA.
Laska’s signing leaves the Mercury with six players signed to guaranteed contracts in 2025 (Satou Sabally, Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper, Kalani Brown, Sami Whitcomb and Laska).
Natasha Mack, Celeste Taylor, Amy Atwell, Sevgi Uzun, Lexi Held and Kathryn Westbeld have all signed training camp contracts, while Anna Makurat is signed to a rookie scale contract.
Laska’s signing gives the Mercury 13 players in total signed to contracts (of all types).
Teams may have as many as 18 players in training camp before having to trim the final roster down to 12 before the first regular season game.