WNBA: Exclusive interview with new Golden State Valkyrie Carla Leite

Carla Leite hasn’t yet played a single WNBA game. Yet, she already has a new team.

After the Dallas Wings, who drafted her No. 9 overall in the 2024 WNBA Draft, left her unprotected in the expansion draft, the Golden State Valkyries jumped on the opportunity to pick one of the most promising European players, who currently is playing for Villeneuve d’Ascq in the La Boulangère Wonderligue in France. Just 20 years old, Leite already has attained numerous accolades, the most important of which is probably the FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship MVP trophy.

Swish Appeal recently caught up with Leite to talk about her basketball experiences, as well as what’s next for the potential future star of the Valkyries:

I read at The Next that you started playing basketball at nine years old, but got really serious about it at 13. What sparked that decision and can you describe what “getting serious” meant at such a young age?

Basketball became serious for me when I joined the Antibes youth team at the age of 13. That’s when I knew I wanted to make basketball my job.

I’m asking that question because, since you’ve been serious about basketball since a young age, did you still have time to be a teenager and do regular teenager stuff?

I don’t think I had a normal adolescence. I was quickly separated from my family and I had to learn to be independent. These are sacrifices that I made and I was happy with this decision. During my rest times, I stayed with the people from the boarding school or I called my family.

You grew up in Yvelines, an hour from Paris, but to play high school ball you moved to Lyon, five hours from your hometown. Is that right? Or did you move somewhere in between?

I was born in Yvelines and then I moved to the south of France in Lorgues at the age of six. After the Pôle Espoirs (a youth training center), I went to the high school in Lyon. My parents helped me with my move and then they went back to Lorgues. I saw them during the school holidays when I had days off.

What’s studying at the Tony Parker Academy like?

I was lucky enough to be in an incredible structure in Lyon (Tony Parker Academy). It had everything on site: school, catering, boarding school and gymnasiums. Most of the time, in the morning, I had school for two hours, then training. I ate and took a nap and I left in the afternoon for two hours of school followed by training. In the evening, I…