{"id":24947,"date":"2025-07-26T07:05:15","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T07:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/24947\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T07:05:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T07:05:15","slug":"valkyries-star-out-rest-of-wnba-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/24947\/","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries star out rest of WNBA season"},"content":{"rendered":"

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WNBA All-Stars share their fashion no-nos at The Collective’s VIP party<\/p>\n

USA TODAY Studio IX is on site with Wasserman for The Collective\u2019s WNBA All-Star VIP party. We asked WNBA stars of today and the future what they would never be caught wearing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Golden State Valkyries<\/a> forward\u00a0Kayla Thornton’s<\/a> renaissance season has been cut short.<\/p>\n

The Valkyries announced that Thornton successfully underwent surgery on Friday, July 25 after suffering a right knee injury in practice, effectively ending Thornton’s career-best campaign and dealing a devastating blow to the Valkyries’ hopes of becoming the first expansion team to make the playoffs in its inaugural season in nearly three decades.<\/p>\n

The news comes nearly a week after Thornton participated in the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game<\/a> in Indianapolis, where she recorded 15 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and one steal off the bench for Team Caitlin Clark<\/a>. It marked the 10-year veteran’s first All-Star nod<\/a> of her career, and she’s the first player to be named an All-Star as a member of a first-year team since Candice Dupree for the Chicago Sky in 2006.<\/p>\n

Golden State Valkyries forward Kayla Thornton, who suffered an injury to her right knee earlier this week in practice, underwent a successful surgery earlier today in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Thornton will be out for the remainder of the 2025 WNBA season and will begin the rehabilitation\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/DTOvTNCml6<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) July 25, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

VALKYRIES: Setting new standard for WNBA expansion teams with early success<\/a><\/p>\n

The UTEP alumna played for the Washington Mystics (2015) and Dallas Wings (2017-22) before winning a Commissioner’s Cup and WNBA championship with the New York Liberty in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Thornton was a role player on the Liberty in 2024, averaging 5.5 points and 2.6 rebounds in 20.2 minutes of play per game on the championship roster. But that all changed when Thornton was drafted in the expansion draft by Golden State in December.<\/p>\n

Thornton quickly became the No. 1 option on the Valkyries, playing a team-high 30.1 minutes per game. Although expectations are typically low for expansion teams early on \u2014 the\u00a0Atlanta Dream<\/a>\u00a0went 4-30 in their inaugural season in 2008, while the\u00a0Chicago Sky<\/a>\u00a0went 5-29 in 2006 \u2014 the Valkyries jumped to an unprecedented 10-9 start and are the third expansion team in WNBA history to pick up its 10th victory in 20 games or less.<\/p>\n

Thornton led the Valkyries in scoring through 22 games (all starts) and averaged a career-high 14 points per game, besting her previous high of 10.4 points per game in 2019 by nearly four points. She also set career-highs in rebounds (7) and steals (1.3), leading the team in both categories.<\/p>\n

“It goes beyond basketball. She’s a tremendous person. She’s someone that you wanna be around all the time,” teammate Kate Martin said<\/a> after Thornton dropped a career-high\u00a029 points\u00a0in a win over the Chicago Sky\u00a0on June 27. “She’s a great leader in the locker room and a great friend, so it’s really fun whenever she’s all of that, but also a phenomenal basketball player.<\/p>\n

“You can learn a lot from KT And how she plays and I’m just really glad she’s getting all the success she’s getting. She deserves it and I’m thankful that I’m her teammate.”<\/p>\n

How Thornton’s injury affects Valkyries playoff chances<\/p>\n

The Valkyries have fallen on hard times and dropped five of their last six games heading into the All-Star weekend. Thornton’s season-ending injury marks a significant loss, and it’s only going to get tougher.<\/p>\n

Golden State opens the second half of the season with a matchup against the Dallas Wings at home on Friday, July 25, before going on a five-game road trip to face Connecticut (July 27), Atlanta (July 29), Washington (July 31), Chicago (Aug. 1) and Las Vegas (Aug. 3).<\/p>\n

The Valkyries (10-12) are currently ninth in the standings and would miss the playoffs if the postseason started today. Golden State is looking to become the first expansion team to make the playoffs in its inaugural season since the Detroit Shock in 1998.<\/p>\n

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news \u2014 fast.\u00a0Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n