WNBA awards: Veronica Burton named Most Improved Player after leading Valkyries to playoffs

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Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton was named the 2025 WNBA Most Improved Player, the league announced Monday. The honor comes after Burton’s breakout year helped the Valkyries make history as the first expansion team to reach the playoffs in their inaugural season.

“Pheww, God is good and He is faithful!! From getting waived last year and now getting to hoop on a brand new franchise.. just really grateful for all of it,” Burton wrote after the Associated Press named her MIP last week.

Burton received 68 of a possible 72 first-place votes. Azurá Stevens finished in second place with two votes, and Allisha Gray and Natisha Hiedeman tied for third with one vote each.

The Northwestern standout started her career as the 7th overall pick of the 2022 WNBA Draft, but she didn’t make a lot of noise early on. She started in just 20 games and averaged under 15 minutes per contest through her first three WNBA seasons. She spent two years with the Dallas Wings before getting waived during training camp in 2024 and then signed with the Connecticut Sun two weeks into that season. 

This year, Burton had to embrace a bigger role with the Valkyries and certainly made the best of the opportunity. She was the starting point guard in all 44 regular games for Golden State while averaging 11.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6 assists and 1.1 steals per game — all career highs. In comparison, she averaged 3.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists with Connecticut. According to the Valkyries, Burton is the first player in WNBA history to have year over year improvements of 8+ points per game, 4+ assists per game and 2+ rebounds per game. 

Burton has shown how impactful she is as a two-way guard, and also demonstrated impressive leadership skills after Kayla Thornton suffered a season-ending knee injury in July.

“She’s truly a big part of why we are winning and I’ve said she’s our heartbeat, but she’s also our leader, she is our solid leader right now.” Golden State coach Natalie Nakase told the San Francisco Standard in August.

Her job is not done yet as the No. 8 seed Valkyries are still competing in the playoffs. Golden State was off to a strong start in Game 1 against the top-seeded Lynx but ultimately suffered a 101-72 loss on Sunday. The Valkyries are hosting Game 2 on Wednesday at 10 p.m ET, but not at Chase Center due to a schedule conflict. Their game will be played at the SAP Center in San Jose.