The WNBA announced Monday that Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton is this year’s Most Improved Player.
She was nearly a unanimous selection for the Most Improved Player award, earning 68 of 72 votes. Los Angeles’ Azurá Stevens received two votes, while Atlanta’s Allisha Gray and Minnesota’s Natisha Hiedeman received one apiece.
Burton, 25, averaged career highs in scoring (11.9 PPG), assists (6.0 APG), rebounds (4.4 RPG), steals (1.1 SPG) and field-goal percentage (38.7%) in her fourth WNBA season and first in Golden State.
She was one of five players to average double-digit points for the Valkyries this season, helping to lead them to a 23-21 record and a playoff appearance, making them the first expansion team in WNBA history to reach the postseason.
A first-round matchup against the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx was their reward, a tough matchup for any team. Minnesota won Sunday’s Game 1, 101-72, with Burton contributing 14 points, seven assists, five rebounds, three steals and a block, though she shot just 3-of-13 from the field.
With Kayla Thornton lost for the season in July, the Valkyries needed someone to step up in her stead. Burton has more than answered the call.
“She’s improved in so many ways,” Golden State head coach Natalie Nakase told reporters last week. “I would start with her leadership from being a player that we kind of leaned on to organize us. Now she’s someone who we’re waiting to listen to, at times when the game goes up and down, when it goes down, she’s the one we’re waiting to hear from, or she’s yelling and commanding what needs to be done. So now she’s our voice.”
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