Iyana Martin chose Spain over an immediate start with the Portland Fire, and the payoff is a place in the semifinals of the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup against the USA. She is expected to join the Portland Fire only in 2027, after playing Euroleague Women next season.
That is why her name is being searched now. Martin has been producing 17.3 points per game in 22 minutes, with 3 assists and 1.7 steals a night, and she entered the game with a 56/43/90 shooting line while giving up 3 turnovers per game. Against Australia, she opened with 3 of 4 from deep in the first quarter, then sat out the whole of the second quarter before returning in the third.
Spain has leaned on that scoring burst because it has not always been here before. The team missed the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup, but before that it had won medals at the previous three editions, so this run is more than a single hot streak. Martin has already moved through Spain’s youth pipeline, winning silver with the U16 and U17 squads, then taking MVP at the U19 World Cup in 2023 before adding a silver medal in her maiden EuroBasket Women last year.
The part that still hangs over the story is the timing. Martin put off her WNBA start last spring to stay with Spain’s World Cup campaign, yet the delay has stretched far enough that her Portland Fire arrival is now lined up for 2027, not 2026. Spain gets her now, in the middle of a semifinal run; Portland waits, and the cost of that choice is measured in an extra season before she shows up.
For Spain, the next step is clear: the USA waits in the semifinals. For Martin, the bigger question is no longer whether she made the right call last spring, but how much more she can give Spain before the calendar finally turns her toward Portland.
