Liberty Player Preview 2025: Marquesha Davis
The trophy is stored, the confetti is cleared, the rings have been sized, and the banner will be raised. Now comes the question: what can the New York Liberty possibly do for an encore?
The Liberty's roster is set for its first postseason championship defense, which gets underway this week as the WNBA prepares to tip off its 29th season. Fresh the famous five-game win over the Minnesota Lynx in last fall's Finals, the Liberty now seek to bring another parade to Manhattan and Brooklyn after ending the long wait for the original.
With the season quickly approaching, New York Liberty on SI will go through each player's 2025 outlook on a case-by-case basis.
Player: Marquesha Davis
Height/Position: 6-0, Guard
From: Mississippi
Experience: 2nd season
2024 Stats: 1.2 points, 40.9 FG percentage
How Acquired: 1st Round pick in 2024 draft (11th overall)
The Story So Far
Despite an accomplished SEC college career between Arkansas and Ole Miss, Davis was frequently viewed as a project pick when the Liberty made her the penultimate choice of last spring's first round. Though packed with veteran talent and focused more on grabbing a championship than they were player development, Liberty personnel was intrigued enough by her length and work in transition to keep their pick and bring in the former Rebel.
As predicted, Davis mostly appeared in mop-up duty but had her moments in relief, notably scoring nine in a one-sided win over Atlanta in June. Another showdown against the Dream, the 2024 regular season finale, saw her put up four points, two boards and an assist.
Davis took to the floor with China's Shandong Six Stars over the offseason and showcased the defensive prowess that drew the Liberty's attention. She also showed improvement in the mid-range game, sinking over 52 percent of her tries from two-point range. Davis had a decent preseason in relief, as the Liberty were a plus-17 on the scoreboard when she was on the floor and she earned a strong offensive rating of 128.3 in the couple against Connecticut and the Toyota Antelopes.
They Said It
"Q has had a really great training camp. I could see her comfort level from playing in year two. She makes the right reads. She moves well without the ball. She plays really well off off [Breanna Stewart] and [Jonquel Jones], which is great for our offense as well. Then on the defensive end, Q is a really good defender. I see her as a player that can be very much like Kahleah Copper on both ends of the floor. I think that's a good comparison. But Q is her own player and her own person."-Natasha Cloud
"I think Q is just getting more comfortable within the offense and you see that comfortability in terms of her being able to attack going downhill. I know she's been just really having a good training camp with shooting the ball, and I think last year she was, she was way more hesitant with shooting the ball."-Jonquel Jones
2025 Outlook
Davis' improved offensive game could come up big in a revamped metropolitan second unit. The Liberty placed eighth in bench scoring last season and that was before they lost Kayla Thornton, Courtney Vandersloot, and the promoted Leonie Fiebich, who will likely reprise her role in the starting five.
Davis is unique in the Liberty cabinet in the sense that, unlikely their plethora of stashed prospects overseas, she's a project that gets to learn from the current seafoam superteam directly. Getting praise from some of the lauded Liberty veterans like Cloud and Jones is certainly a step in the right direction and bodes well for the trust her offseason work has established.
Set to turn 24 later this month, Davis has a potential opportunity ahead with the similarly-skilled and sized Betnijah Laney-Hamilton out for the season. While her enhanced role may not be apparent from the get-go, there's a chance she could become more of a depth star in the road to a repeat.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.