Kiara Leslie
Biography
Personal: Leslie is the daughter of Lisa and Calvin Leslie. She has four brothers. Her older brother, C.J., played basketball at NC State from 2010 to 2013 and earned three All-Atlantic Coast Conference citations. She also participated in track and field and volleyball as a child. She enjoys hiking. She lists meeting Maya Moore as a moment when she felt starstruck. Her proudest accomplishment is being drafted in the WNBA and winning a league title during the same year.
2025 Season: Leslie accumulated 2,535 leaderboard points during her first Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball season. She collected 300 or more leaderboard points in a game four times, including a season-high 394 leaderboard points against Team Harrison in the Week Three finale. She appeared in 10 games with two starts. Leslie averaged 7.5 points and 4.1 rebounds per contest. She scored a season-high 15 points against Team Sims on March 1, making 5-of-13 field goal attempts in addition to all five free throws. She also grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds for her first double-double of her Athletes Unlimited career. She contributed 12 points against Team Westbrook on February 7 after sinking 5-of-15 shots from the field, including a pair of three-pointers. She netted seven points and grabbed nine rebounds against Team Siegrist to close Week Two. She also tallied nine rebounds in the season finale against Team Bradford on March 2.
Other Professional Experience: Leslie is a two-year WNBA veteran who was selected by Washington with the No. 10 overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft and claimed the 2019 WNBA Championship. She spent two seasons with the Mystics. She appeared in 28 games with 10 starts. She posted a 4.6 scoring average while grabbing 2.8 rebounds per outing. She was a starter in 10-of-19 games during the 2020 season who averaged 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per contest. She fashioned four double-digit scoring performances, including a pair of 11-point outputs. She came off the bench in nine games during the 2021 campaign and averaged 2.8 points per outing. She has also played overseas in Russia, Israel, France, Egypt, and Puerto Rico.
At Maryland and NC State: Leslie was a four-year letter winner who played in 136 total games during her career from 2014 to 2019. She spent her freshman and sophomore seasons at Maryland before transferring to NC State. She totaled 1,252 career points with 642 rebounds and 204 assists. She claimed Honorable Mention status on the Associated Press and WBCA All-America Teams as a graduate student at NC State. She was also tabbed First-Team All-Atlantic Coast Conference in her final season with the Wolfpack. She was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten Conference selection at Maryland. She started 61-of-69 games at NC State. She averaged 14.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game with the Wolfpack. She also dished out 155 assists in two seasons. She was a starter in all 34 games as a graduate student who averaged 15.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per appearance. She notched 31 double-digit scoring efforts, including nine games with 20 or more points. She also registered 10 double-doubles while shooting 41.6 percent from the field. She scored her 1,000th point of her college career against Georgia Tech on January 27, 2019. She played in 35 games for the Wolfpack during the 2017-18 campaign, including 27 starts. She authored a 12.7 scoring average while grabbing 5.9 caroms per contest. She scored a season-high 27 points against Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament. She made 67 appearances over two seasons at Maryland before missing the 2016-17 campaign due to injury. She averaged 4.0 points and 2.8 rebounds per contest. She played 32 games as a sophomore with seven starts and a 4.4 scoring average. She netted 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field, including a 3-for-4 effort from beyond the arc, against UMES on December 20, 2016. She saw action in 35 games as a reserve during her freshman season. She contributed 3.6 points and 2.7 rebounds per contest, including 11 points and 10 rebounds against Wagner.