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Liberty Year In Review 2024: Marquesha Davis

Marquesha Davis took home a title as the New York Liberty's latest first-round pick.

Geoff Magliocchetti

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty
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After 27 years, 40 games, 12 more playoff contests, and even a fateful overtime period, the New York Liberty finally stand as WNBA champions.

New York earned its first postseason WNBA title with a five-game series victory over the Minnesota Lynx earlier this fall, capping off a monumental season for the WNBA. For now, the championship serves as a culmination of a long-gestating plan put forth by Liberty leadership, one that brought home the first basketball team honor to the city in over five decades.

The Liberty’s path to a repeat comes at an exciting if not turbulent time on the WNBA timeline: rosters are set to endure tremors caused by expansion drafts (such as that of the Golden State Valkyries in December) and upcoming collective bargaining agreement discussions. 

With the season itself gone — but the memories never fading —Knicks on SI looks back at a victorious season that was and what’s ahead for the Liberty on a case-by-case basis.

2024 Year In Review: Marquesha Davis

Name: Marquesha Davis
Season: Rookie
Key Stats: 1.2 points, 40.9 percent shooting

How It Started

Davis emerged as one of the top women to take advantage of the transfer portal: no role emerged for her in her local school of Arkansas but she established herself as a strong two-way threat at Mississippi.

After guiding the Rebels to the Sweet 16 in 2023 (the program's first in 16 years), Davis peppered her name amid individual accomplishments as she got Ole Miss back to the Tournament. Averaging 14.0 points and 1.5 steals, Davis found herself in the SEC's top 20 in both offensive and defensive rating en route first team all-conference honors.

Keeping the penultimate pick in the first round, the Liberty took Davis 11th overall, as they were highly impressed by work in transition.

How It Went

It was clear that Davis was meant to take in the 2024 season as a learner, as she had plenty of experienced mentors to work with. She wound up taking the floor in 20 games, mostly in mop-up duty but she did get some brief action with the primary groups in June when some injuries ate away at the headliners.

In her limited time, Davis continued to develop a sense of trademark aggressiveness. Things were maybe a little too raw, as she was charged with three multi-foul games, but it's certainly something the Liberty can work with if she sticks around for the long haul.

It was hard for Davis, who picked up the nickname of "Q" among her Liberty teammates, to show off her work in transition in the controlled chaos of mop-up duty but she did manage to keep her shooting touch on a limited basis: after ranking 12th in the SEC in field goal percentage, Davis shot 7-of-14 in the three games where she played more than seven minutes and capped things off with a crowd-pleasing three-pointer in the Liberty's postseason opener against Atlanta.

Finest Hour

Davis' most populous showing beyond the Liberty's consequence-free finale came on June 23, when she earned second period minutes in Atlanta.

With Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Courtney Vandersloot missing, Davis picked up the slack with a splendid second that saw her go a perfect 4-of-4, helping the Liberty built an insurmountable lead en route to a 96-75 final. Davis did a little bit of everything to the tune of earning nine total points with two rebounds to go with an assist, block, and steal each, all while committing only one foul in just over 13 minutes.

They Said It

"I think I've been pretty clear about what we wanted to achieve in our offseason which was to increase our length and athleticism. I think you see that especially with a player like Marquesha at the wing spot. I think something that Marquesha has is the ability to really get downhill and get into the paint which creates advantages for us."-Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb on drafting Davis

"It's a little difficult because you don't want to mess up when you go in. But I just try to tell myself be confident and just do what they brought me here to do."-Davis on how she takes advantage of her minutes

What’s Next?

Grading the first year of Davis' WNBA career was always going to be a tall task: she was the only woman on New York's opening day roster that did not have the benefit of any professional experience before she took the floor and it was clear that she was going to be a bit of a project that the Liberty intended to sculpt.

Davis seems destined for New York's expansion draft list(s) but the newcomers will likely express further interest in the veterans available. With the Liberty set to bid farewell to at least one established woman, Davis might have a vital opportunity come next year's training camp, though she may also have to compete with her first-round successor, as New York holds the seventh overall pick in next spring's draft.

Though acknowledging the project nature of her Liberty times, head coach Sandy Brondello offered a tantalizing hint of what management sees in Davis, as she compared the rookie to American Olympian and 2021 WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper. Time will tell if Davis gets a chance to fulfill such a prophecy on a metropolitan stage.

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Geoff Magliocchetti
GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks

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