In 2022, Sue Bird’s final shot in her childhood home of New York rimmed around, bounced up, and fell through to ice the Seattle Storm’s 81-72 win against the Liberty. Four years later, with Bird on the broadcast team, her ‘look-alike’ did the same against the same team to give Portland Fire their second upset victory over the 2024 WNBA Champions.

With the Fire hanging on to a 74-71 lead with 16 seconds to go, Carla Leite stepped back against Breanna Stewart and hit a three to stamp out the victory, handing the Liberty their third straight loss. The parallels are clearly there, with even Bird agreeing to the fan trend. 

“I’m just going to say … Carla Leite of the Portland Fire is giving Sue Bird vibes. 😳 Going to start calling her Baby Bird 🐣,” Trysta Kick, NBC Analyst wrote. Reacting to this tweet, Bird agreed, as did the broadcast team. 

“Curls for the Girls!” Bird said on the broadcast agreeing to the nickname. “The shot a little bit. I can see it,” her broadcast partner replied. The two even linked up after the game. “Two legends, one photo🐦‍⬛” the Fire captioned the photo. “Carla Leite got to meet one of her lifelong idols, Sue Bird, tonight after the win against the New York Liberty.”

Fans first noticed the resemblance in 2025, but it went viral only in 2026, when Leite started playing more with Portland with an expanded role.

Leite inherited Bird’s clutch gene. On Monday, she hit the game-tying basket with 27 seconds left to play in the home win against Liberty.

In this game, Leite’s heroics were not limited to that one shot. She had a team-high 18 points while adding 2 assists and going 8-14 from the field. “To do that at 22 years old, I’m so encouraged by the potential there, and that’s what this is all about.” 

And Leite has really stepped up for the Fire this season and has been the central part of their success. She is leading the team at 15.6 points per game while contributing with 2.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists as well.

Her scoring nearly tripled (7.2 to 15.6 ppg), while her playmaking doubled (2 to 4.2 apg) from last season. However, that final play that took Portland to 4-3 was an unplanned one.

Carla Leite Admits Insubordination To Alex Sarama After Clutch Play

Alex Sarama is not the conventional coach in any sense. He ditches rigid playbooks for constraints-led coaching: game-like drills, player autonomy, no whistles. An offense without a rigid structure.

Leite’s three-pointer was not just any other game-winner. She called an iso on one of the WNBA’s best perimeter defenders, crossed between the legs twice, and fired the shot.  It was a show of confidence from the youngster, who even ignored a directive from Sarama in the process. 

“Our coach Alex wants us to try to finish in the paint, but she has long arms, and I think she knew I was going to try to finish at the rim,” Leite revealed after the game. “There was a lot of space, so I felt like I could take the shot, and that’s why I shot the three.”

And this could also be the result of the environment Alex Sarama is bringing into this team. Sarama abolished the whistle, a military holdover, to create joyful, voice-led practice. 

“I think a lot of things in sports maybe come over from the military, so I think that’s one where it’s the idea of drilling and the use of the whistle,” Sarama has said.

“I want this to be more of a joyful environment, and I just don’t like using the whistle because of the control it connotes, and it’s more just using the voice and think it’s just a nicer tone for the practice.” This is a fresh approach that has Portland punching above its perceived weight.