Kitija Laksa (born 21 May 1996) is a Latvian professional basketball player for the Dallas Wings of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She previously played for Fenerbahçe of the Women's Basketball Super League, EuroLeague Women and the Latvian national team.
Playing career Laksa played for the American collegiate team South Florida Bulls. She suffered a knee injury in November 2018 and missed the rest of her senior season. Instead of returning for a fifth year, Laksa signed with Latvian professional team TTT Riga in July 2019.
Laksa was drafted in the first round, 11th overall, by the Seattle Storm in the 2020 WNBA draft. She signed a contract with the Storm on 25 April 2020, but did not play at all during the 2020 season and she was waived by the team on 13 May 2021.
Two years later on 28 February 2023, Laksa signed a contract with a Dallas Wings but was waived on May 10 before playing a game for them.
On 12 February 2025, she signed a contract with the Phoenix Mercury.
On 21 May 2025, five years after being drafted, Laksa finally made her WNBA debut in a 89 - 86 win over the Los Angeles Sparks where she recorded 9 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in 23 minutes off the bench.https://www.basketball-reference.com/wnba/boxscores/202505210PHO.html
On 3 April 2026, she was drafted 21st overall by the Toronto Tempo (from the Mercury) in the 2026 WNBA expansion draft becoming the first Latvian-born player to be drafted from an expansion draft from either the WNBA or the NBA. However, she was not part of the opening day roster that was announced on May 7, 2026.https://tempo.wnba.com/news/toronto-tempo-announce-2026-opening-roster
On August 25, 2026, the Dallas Wings signed Laksa to a rest-of-season contract. Wings head coach Jose Fernandez was Laksa's coach at the University of South Florida.https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/wings/article/azzi-fudd-year-dallas-wings-sign-guard-kitija-22402620.php
Career statistics
WNBA Regular season Stats current through end of 2025 season
| align="left" | 2025 | align="left" | Phoenix | 33 || 5 || 19.0 || .367 || .317 || .813 || 1.2 || 0.6 || 0.4 || 0.2 || 0.6 || 5.9 |- class="sortbottom" | rowspan=2 style='text-align:left;'| Career | style='text-align:left;'| 1 year, 1 team | 33 || 5 || 19.0 || .367 || .317 || .813 || 1.2 || 0.6 || 0.4 || 0.2 || 0.6 || 5.9
Playoffs
| style="text-align:left;"| 2025 | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 2 || 0 || 4.5 || .333 || .333 || .000 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.5 || 1.5 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:left;"| Career | style="text-align:left;"| 1 year, 1 team | 2 || 0 || 4.5 || .333 || .333 || .000 || 1.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.0 || 0.5 || 1.5
College Source
References
External links
Kitija Laksa at USF Bulls Kitija Laksa at EuroBasket 2017