3 WNBA Draft prospects the Liberty should be scouting for the No. 7 pick

Thanks to a convoluted four-team trade in 2023, the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty will hold the No. 7 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.

Despite winning the franchise's first title last year, the Liberty have a few areas where they could improve heading into the 2025 WNBA season. They lost Kayla Thornton to the Golden State Valkyries in the expansion draft and both Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot are free agents.

They'll certainly enter next season with the talent to defend their championship but adding depth and upside in the 2025 WNBA Draft will be key.

Here are three players that New York should be targeting at No. 7 overall.

Te-Hina Paopao, G, South Carolina

The defending WNBA champions need guard help.

Veteran Courtney Vandersloot has given the team her all over the last two seasons, but it became clear last season that Sloot is no longer the WNBA's best point guard. She averaged a career low in minutes and points and her 4.8 assists per game were her fewest since 2016. It was also the first time since 2016 that Vandersloot didn't lead the league in assist rate.

In theory, New York already has a player on its roster who can take over the mantle at point guard: French guard Marine Johannes. But in practice, counting on contributions from international players is tough.

Women's basketball is a year-round sport. During the traditional basketball season, most players are playing professionally overseas or, starting in 2025, in the 3-x-3 Unrivaled league. In the summer, when most basketball leagues are on break, the WNBA plays.

For American players, there's incentive to play in the WNBA because...well, it's the top American women's basketball league. But international players often have various other committments that get in their way. Johannes, for example, signed with the Liberty in 2019. In the six seasons since, the French star has come over to the WNBA just three times. So adding someone who might more reliably be around would be a smart call.

South Carolina's Te-Hina Paopao has spent the last two seasons learning from one of the best guards in women's basketball history: Dawn Staley. Under Staley's tutelage, Paopao has cut down on her turnovers and has become one of the better three-point shooters in the country.

Adding a player who is on her way to her third consecutive season shooting over 40% from deep would increase how dangerous this Liberty offense is. A backcourt of Paopao and Sabrina Ionescu might not be one that has a traditional point guard in it, but it would feature two combo guards who can knock down any deep shot they take. How do you defend against that?

Defensively, Paopao isn't a star, but she's a capable perimeter defender and would bring more to the floor than Vandersloot does on that end.

Shyanne Sellers, G, Maryland

Maybe New York opts to go for someone who can play on the wind, in which case Maryland's Shyanne Sellers would certainly be in consideration.

Sellers has been the primary creator for the Terrapins, averaging five or more assists per game for the past two seasons, but at 6-foot-2 she would be a great option at the two or three for the Liberty, with Ionescu at the one.

She hasn't shot the ball nearly as much as Paopao, but she's knocking down 38.5% of her attempts this season. Playing more of an off-ball role could enable her to keep improving her shooting as she'd be taking fewer pull-up shots and more catch-and-shoot attempts.

The Liberty also need a player like Sellers because the expansion draft cost the team Kayla Thornton, who served as a valuable do-it-all forward for the team over the past two seasons. Sellers is more of a guard than Thornton was, but teams always need a smart glue player off the bench.

Dominique Malonga, F, ASVEL Féminin

New York could also look to Europe with their first round pick, where ASVEL big Dominique Malonga has been incredibly impressive.

This pick doesn't necessarily fill a need for the Liberty. The team already has Jonquel Jones and Nyara Sabally up front. But Jones is a free agent in 2026 and Sabally averaged just 13.5 minutes per game off the bench last season. If Jones opts to go elsewhere, New York might suddenly be in a bind up front. Sabally certainly looks like a good player, but can she hold up as a starter?

But beyond that hypothetical concern, the main reason to draft Malonga is that if she's still on the board when New York picks, she's the best available player. I've already touched on the concerns that come with international players, but this is a chance to draft a young player — international players aren't subject to the age cap that college players are — who has shown she can be a dominant force inside. Her combination of size and strength makes her a force at the rim on both ends of the floor.

Malonga probably wouldn't be in New York's immediate plans, though. At least for 2025, having Jones and Sabally at center means the team can let Malonga stay in Europe for another year to continue developing. If she's the pick, then it likely means the team has used free agency to fill the holes it has at guard and on the wing, allowing the team the luxury of drafting for the future instead of for the immediate present.