If I had to bet on a player in the 2024 WNBA Draft that we wind up looking back on in half a decade and saying “How did she fall out of the lottery?” about, New York Liberty rookie Marquesha Davis would be my pick.
Davis snuck under the radar this season as Ole Miss dealt with numerous injuries that forced them to play without a traditional point guard for almost the entire season. While that was a learning curve for the team, it allowed Davis to showcase what she can do with the ball in her hands, particularly during SEC play.
Davis has a wide and loping handle, but ties it together with phenomenal control of the ball, and she is also remarkably shifty as a slasher at her size on the wing.
She creates space in a way that few can. She has a devastating first step that makes her a consistent rim threat, where she does her best work as a scorer off the dribble. However, her ability to create sideways, backward, and in multiple planes of motion is what most tantalizes about her potential.
Davis has room to grow and improve as a more consistent jump shooter, but with her consistent ability to create meaningful amounts of space, it’s worth betting on her developing there. She has a knack for hitting some absolutely nasty tough shots, paired with wildly impressive hang time and a near-unblockable release point.
While she wasn’t a big-time 3-point shooter in college, and her mid-range numbers are a bit below average, this is a key area to assert context. Ole Miss was all about dribble-drive and attacking the basket, where they absolutely excelled. However, they were near the bottom of Division 1 as a team in 3-point attempts per game and 3-point percentage.
That’s key in understanding Marquesha’s spacing and the offense she was operating in. It was great for showcasing her driving and slashing ability, but could lead to some clunky possessions in the halfcourt and tough bailout shots when defenses stacked up in the paint.
The point is, with context, I find that some of the efficiency numbers undersell what she can do. So much of becoming a consistent shotmaker and shooter is refining footwork and mechanics. Davis has the touch and creation ability, and with continued work and reps, the shot will polish and become a real weapon in the coming years.
Why Finding Talent Late in the First Round is Vital in the WNBA
In the WNBA Draft, top picks define and dictate your ceiling and floor: Making shrewd moves around the margins is what can set a franchise apart, particularly in a league where getting impactful play on smaller rookie-scale deals is paramount. Adding a prospect that can be the seventh player in a rotation mid-way through their second season opens up the avenues for getting more creative with contracts, being able to spend more money on starters, and flexibility to make moves with a flushed-out talent base.
What can we learn looking backward and at the history of the WNBA Draft?
By and large, players taken in the lottery — or at least the top-four picks — are the automatic starters, players who are real bets to be long-term rotation players or stars. This fluctuates depending on the actual talent pool in each class, of course, but it’s a notable distinction.
Start hitting the middle of the draft, think mid-first to mid-second, and you’re looking more at talent bets: players who are clearly skilled, but a tool or two away from being a positive impact rotation player. Can this player make an impact in a smaller role on a team that’s likely already successful given the position? Can they expand outwards from that considering they’re probably a deeper rotation player? Developmental context and room to grow can blur the lines of why some players don’t pan out where they’re originally drafted.
This is one of the more fascinating places in the draft to me, as we’ve seen really good players come from this range, with some becoming eventual stars or plus starters. Can you find a secondary or tertiary star or a player who can be a 5th starter or closer in lineups?
Some teams have been able to. For reference:
Sophie Cunningham, 13th in 2019
Bri Jones, 8th in 2017
Natasha Cloud, 15th in 2015
Betnijah Laney, 17th in 2015
Tiffany Hayes, 14th in 2012
Jasmine Thomas, 12th in 2011
Alysha Clark, 17th in 2010
It’s worth remembering that every developmental story and journey is different. Some of these players didn’t hit their best heights until they got to a new opportunity, which is understandable and often expected in player development. Yet, the majority found and thrived in a smaller role in their first few seasons and blossomed once they got the opportunity.
Knowing how a person operates, works, and best develops is integral for every organization. There are a multitude of players with talent and potential in every class; can they land in the best situation for them? That’s more key than the number they get drafted at.
I don’t anticipate Davis being a high-impact player for the New York Liberty this season. They’re coming off a run to the Finals, reworked their bench, and have internal expectations to win it all. But she has a foundation of skill that makes her playable off the bench, and it would be equally unsurprising if she had multiple stints as a part of New York’s rotation during the regular season.
She’s long and active on defense, with quick hands and feet, and room to keep rounding out an already solid base defending on the ball (an area of need for the Liberty). She rebounds incredibly well for her position, particularly on the offense glass, thriving as a cutter and opportunistic scorer. Her ability to rip and run off the defensive glass and create easy offense in transition was amongst the very best in the country this past college season, and was immediately translatable in New York’s preseason.
Nothing is guaranteed in the hardest league to make in professional sports, but Davis embodies the traits of multiple players who fell to a similar position in past drafts. Marquesha Davis may not be a massive factor as a rookie, and she may not even make her biggest mark in the WNBA as a member of the Liberty: Just look back at the list of past players above and note that it took many of them multiple years and teams to find their footing.
But as she continues to expand out of a condensed role and develop, I’m confident Marquesha Davis will wind up as one of the most impactful players of this class when we look back in the future.
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