When All-Star Kayla Thornton was lost to a right knee injury in mid-July, many wondered if the Golden State Valkyries would be able to continue on a postseason pace.
In stepped Veronica Burton, who lead the Valkyries in nearly every statistical category – points (11.9), assists (6.0), steals (1.1) and blocks (0.6) – and on Monday, Sept. 15, she was named the WNBA Most Improved Player. Burton’s game is well-rounded, demonstrated by the fact she’s one of five players to average at least 10 points, 5 assists and 1.5 made 3-pointers a game, joining Kelsey Plum, Caitlin Clark, Sabrina Ionescu and Skylar Diggins.
Burton is the only player on the Valkyries roster to start all 44 games. She played 29.2 minutes per game, compared to 12.7 with the Connecticut Sun last season. Burton’s points per game are nearly four times her previous career high of 3.1 in 2024.
Burton, who was drafted No. 7 overall by the Dallas Wings in 2022, is known as a defensive stalwart. She won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year her freshman season at Northwestern. Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase wanted to see more offense after getting Burton is the expansion draft.
‘I challenged her. I challenged her to memorize sets, I challenged her to memorize possessions, and I’m challenging her now to recognize certain defenses,” Nakase told Yahoo Sports in early August. ‘And so with that type of openness with like, ‘whatever you need, coach,’ I mean, literally every game, I feel like she’s surprising (people with her improvement).’
In honor of being named the Kia WNBA Most Improved Player, Burton will receive $5,150 and a trophy.
Golden State, which was the first expansion team to make the playoffs in their inaugural season, is down 1-0 in the best-of-three opening series to the Minnesota Lynx. The Valkyries play host to the Lynx on Wednesday, Sept. 17 (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.