Fashion, Predictions, and Analysis: 2025 WNBA Draft Preview with Skidmore’s Rising Star Sophia Martinez

I was recently joined by Skidmore College Women’s Basketball Freshman Sophia Martinez to get her insights on the upcoming 2025 WNBA Draft. Martinez played in all of Skidmore’s 27 games during the ‘24-’25 season and previously played for Puerto Rico’s U16 National Team. 

Lucia: Let’s get into the questions.  We’ll start with like a fun one. Who was best dressed last year? And who do you think is going to be best dressed this year? 

Sophia: I’m kind of biased because I love Paige Bueckers. I know they just won and everything, but I think she’s always came out with good fits. But last year I think Nika Muhl. I liked her outfit a lot. But this year I think Paige is going to really set it off.  

Lucia: I feel like she was best dressed last year, and it wasn’t even her draft! 

Sophia: Yeah, she wasn’t even getting drafted, and she was best dressed.  

Lucia: Who do you think is the sleeper of this draft or someone that’s flying under the radar?  

Sophia: I’m trying to remember her name but she’s a small guard on Kentucky she used to play for I think it was Tennessee. I was watching her all last season. 

Lucia: Georgia Amoore? Oh my God I love her so much.  

Sophia: Yeah, I feel like she’s so underrated, especially since she’s a smaller guard. Obviously, I’m a smaller guard playing for Skidmore. So, seeing her, it’s really inspirational. Her playing and being able to get drafted or being able to be a nominee to be drafted is special because a lot of people sleep on them.  

Lucia: Especially with how strong her and Liz Kitley were together at Virginia Tech. Speaking of guards in my opinion; I don’t know why Haley Van Lith is projected to be in the second round. Like, what are we talking about? I don’t know what’s going on with that. 

Sophia: I feel like there’s been so many statistics saying she has brought every single school she’s been at to the Final Four or Elite Eight, whatever the case is and she’s a great player wherever she goes so I don’t know why she’d even go past the first round at all.  

Lucia: Yeah, especially because she’s literally an Olympic like medalist. She had an amazing NCAA tournament, but could this have something to do with their loss to Texas? 

Sophia: Oh yeah, definitely. I feel like as far as that TCU team this year, like they feel like they’re putting Haley Van Lith so far into the draft and then her stock went down just because of how their season ended. I genuinely feel like she did everything she could. Sedona wasn’t there that last game they played. So I think that last game had an effect on Haley Van Lith’s stock a little bit, which sucks.   

Lucia: Whose game do you think is going to translate the best?  

Sophia: I mean, I don’t want to answer Paige for everything, but Paige just because she’s older and she’s played through so many different types of players, she’s competed at so many levels. I think she definitely has the best chance of making it big in the league just because it’s not something that a lot of people have seen before. It’s her type of playing style.  

Lucia: Yeah, like how versatile she is. She can score on all 3 levels.  

Lucia: What rookie – vet duo would you want to see come out of this draft?  

Sophia: I definitely like Georgia Amoore and then Tehina Pao Pao from South Carolina I really like her game, she’s just an unselfish player. She’s someone I wanna see do well and have a good teammate combination. She needs to shine with another player to make it, which I’m hoping to see. 

Lucia: Do you think that would be a big? Or a point guard?  

Sophia: Definitely a point guard, just because she can shoot, and I think she needs to emphasize that in her game since she’s a bigger guard.  

Lucia: How do you think that NIL and the transfer portal have affected this year’s draft class? 

Sophia: Oh my God it’s been crazy. First of all, I didn’t know that you’re allowed to enter the transfer portal while you’re still in the tournament. I didn’t realize that until this year. It’s the same with boys and girls. That’s just crazy. Kids are looking for more and more money wherever they go, which is great. Like people are getting paid, but it’s still playing out. It should be a rule that we enter the transfer after the tournament, after the season. That’s the respectable thing to do for these coaches and everything. You have to also put them into perspective. It’s just gotten crazier and crazier. It’s great that players are getting paid but the politics of it is getting crazier by the year. 

 Lucia: Yeah. And the fact that it’s not regulated at all. I know that a lot of people have been talking about multi-year contracts to keep from so much team hopping because with how NIL and the transfer portal have like combined, it basically makes recruiting mean nothing because people just team hop so much. 

Sophia: Yeah. And I’ve gotten the privilege to play here, but even when I was playing AAU and high school basketball, it was definitely a different scope than when my sister played in college. It’s getting more intense and kids are going to like having to be better and better. It’s a more intense environment, I don’t know if it’s necessarily great because of how rigorous it’s getting with the player’s mental health and like all the other stuff that goes into it. 

Lucia: And that feeds into the whole ACL epidemic because you’re training one sport more and more intensely from a younger age, often without the right strength training to go with it. 

Sophia: And it’s great that this is getting publicity for women’s basketball. But kids are going to start training harder and harder and they’re not going to be taking care of their bodies and all the other stuff that goes into playing basketball. Kids are going to want to start playing more, but it’s just not beneficial to their bodies. Like how intense it was, looking at an NIL and transfer portal and getting to college at that level, it can get dangerous if we don’t regulate it. 

Lucia: It’s so fresh and new that there’s no protection for the actual players. 

Lucia: If you were in this year’s draft, who would you want to be drafted to? 

Sophia: I mean, my favorite team that I’ve always loved is the Sparks. So, definitely them and obviously being in LA with sun and everything. 

Lucia: What do you think about how the league is trying to make a bit of a West Coast rivalry out of the Valkyries and the Sparks? They even have put their first games against each other. 

Sophia: I think the intensity of how women’s basketball is going, especially in the WNBA is great.  It’s more entertaining and there’s more things happening that rivalries help create. 

Lucia: Last question. I know it’s way too early, but who is your prediction for Rookie of the Year and this year’s championship team?  

Sophia: I think Rookie of the Year, I have to give it to Paige. And then championship team? I know everyone just left the Aces, but I love them, I have confidence in them. Even though a lot of people got drafted out or got moved around, I still have confidence in them. And then there’s also the Liberty, I went to a game of theirs last year and they were amazing. So definitely the Aces or the Liberty. 

Lucia: I feel like what the Aces need to get back is the supporting characters, like how they lost Alysha Clark and Sydney Colson, people to back up their big stars, more role players.  

Sophia: Absolutely