Portland Fire Draft Iyana Martín Carrión 7th Overall in 2026 WNBA Draft
Tonight, Iyana Martín Carrión made history. With the seventh overall pick - the first draft pick in franchise history - the Portland Fire selected the Spanish international.
Tonight, the history of professional women’s basketball in the Rose City revealed a new chapter. Now, that chapter has a title: Iyana Martín Carrión.
With the seventh overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, the Portland Fire selected Martín. She is the first amateur draft pick in the history of this burgeoning expansion franchise.
Last Friday, I wrote this about Martín:
“Iyana Martín, also known as Iyana Martín Carrión, is a 20 year old Spanish international starlet. The 5’9” point guard first represented her home country at the 2022 U16 EuroBasket, winning a silver medal. She then played on Spain’s 2022 FIBA U17 World Cup team, also winning silver. A year later, she contributed to their U19 World Cup team, again placing second. At that tournament, Martín shined, scoring a game high 19 points in Spain’s gold medal loss versus the United States. When the final whistle blew, she was named to the All-Tournament Team, and selected as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Her star power progressed further at last summer’s EuroBasket, where the young playmaker saw her first action with Spain’s senior national team.
While the Fire might be content at the point this season - last week’s expansion draft featured promising young players Carla Leite and Sarah Ashlee Barker, plus experienced veteran Sug Sutton - Martín represents a long term investment. What she lacks in professional experience, she makes up for in potential.”
Barring any potential trades, the Portland Fire are slated to pick again at 17th overall (2nd round), and 37th overall (3rd round) later tonight.
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Matt Bagley is a professional sportswriter and broadcaster with a passion for women’s sports. Outside of work, he cherishes quality time with his birth family, his chosen family, and one very pesky house panther.
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