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Kitija Laksa's birthday dream came true on Wednesday. After the Mercury star was a likely X-factor, the team celebrated her birthday with a cake and sang “Happy Birthday” after the team's morning shootaround.
However, Laksa's availability was in question on Wednesday night. She recently finished her playoff series in Italy and made the trip back to Arizona. Fortunate, or unfortunate for her, the Mercury are dealing with two injuries to Kahleah Copper and Natasha Mack that have left a void at both positions.
As a result, the team has had a plethora of players step up to the plate. On Wednesday, Laksa was the latest to do so. She had nine points, hit all three of her 3s, and also added three rebounds and four assists.
In the press conference room, the Latvian guard was transparent about making her dream come true.
@jeffmetcalfe asked Kitija Laksa about the feeling of a team taking a chance on her.
— Hayden Cilley (@HaydenCilley) May 22, 2025
“The dream since college was to play in the W… I was waiting for the right place, for the right time. And this is the right place and the right time.” pic.twitter.com/PSvCkuMTuk
“The dream since college was to play W,” Laksa said. “Today, I'm 29 years old and making my debut, so there have been a bunch of reasons why I probably haven't been here before. I was waiting for the right place for the right time, and this is the right place and this is the right time. So it's a great opportunity for me to take pride in it to be a Phoenix Mercury.”
Laksa made a name for herself at South Florida. She was a standout, averaging 17.8 points with a 39.1% 3-point shooting clip during her time there. Despite being the No. 11 pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft, she was abruptly cut.
Then, she bounced from team to team. Eventually, she landed in Italy and made a statement. This past season, Laksa posted 12.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.6 turnovers per game.
Mercury HC Nate Tibbetts had jokes for Kitija Laksa's minutes
[Is this first sentence supposed to be in the section above? I may not be reading it right] Not to mention, she shot 46.6% from two, 38.8% from three and 87.8% at the line. The efficiency is exactly what head coach Nate Tibbetts hoped to see. Funny enough, the head coach knew she would play, just not when.
After playing 23 minutes on Wednesday, Tibbetts chuckled when asked about Laksa's minutes.
“The plan wasn't to play her as much as I did tonight,” Tibbetts said, chuckling. “She just came off a long season in Europe, but she kept telling me she could play. She was ready for whatever minutes were in front of her, as you can see. She's a shooter, a sniper, which is why we're excited about her.
“(And) she's going to give a really good player space, and she knows how to play. She's got good positional size. She did all that tonight with not even really knowing what we're doing as far as the sets go, so I gave her a lot of credit and the team that helped her.”
Considering this was her first game, there wasn't a lack of confidence. Instead, it was the exact opposite. The first moment she was open, Laksa immediately uncorked a 3-pointer that left the crowd stunned.
Not that she took the shot, but that it was without hesitation. The fact that Laksa doesn't fully know the system, and is running on less than a week of being in Phoenix shows a testament to her game and her confidence.
The shooting expertise transcends leagues. Funny enough, it felt that Laksa was a part of the team all along.
No matter what, there will be grace given to the Latvian guard. She has plenty to learn about Tibbetts' system, and playing off stars like Satou Sabally, Alyssa Thomas, and Copper.
Either way, Kitija Laksa's shooting is an automatic boost, and can alone help her integrate seamlessly into the Mercury's positionless basketball and provide a much-needed offensive spark from the outside.
