{"id":266782,"date":"2026-04-14T05:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/266782\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T05:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T05:15:18","slug":"valkyries-re-sign-kayla-thornton-add-kiah-stokes-before-wnba-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/266782\/","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries re-sign Kayla Thornton, add Kiah Stokes before WNBA draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of the WNBA draft on Monday, the Golden State Valkyries<\/a> were actively reinforcing their roster through free agency, re-signing All-Star forward\u00a0Kayla Thornton<\/a> to a one-year deal. The team also announced the signing of former Las Vegas Aces center Kiah Stokes to a multiyear deal, and forward Cate Reese to a training camp contract.<\/p>\n

Thornton, 33, blossomed at Golden State, averaging a career-high 14 points per game in 22 starts. She then suffered a season-ending right knee injury during a July practice. Thornton was named an All-Star for the first time in her 10-year career under WNBA Coach of the Year Natalie Nakase<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-1 forward also averaged 7 rebounds per game, which would have comfortably paced the team if not for her injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe became our first-ever All-Star, and also stepped up as a leader for a new roster from day one,\u201d Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin<\/a> said in a statement. \u201cKayla brings relentless work ethic and an unshakeable belief in this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stokes, 33, won three WNBA championships as a reserve and spot-starter for the Aces, making 81 starts in 165 games played, averaging 17 minutes, 1.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. As an All-Rookie selection in 2015, she finished runner-up in voting for Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year. Standing at 6-3, she managed 2 blocks per game that season, which still marks her career high.<\/p>\n

The rim protector has managed a block per game throughout her 11-year career.<\/p>\n

Reese was a double-figure scorer in each of her five collegiate seasons at Arizona. She went undrafted in 2023. In the frontcourt for Polish team MB Zaglebie Sosnowiec this past season, she averaged a double-double with 15.4 points and 10.6 rebounds across nine games.<\/p>\n

In total, the Valkyries have signed 14 players this free agency, including five to training camp contracts. Their roster of 15 players, with three pending draft picks, reads as follows.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guards: Veronica Burton, Just\u0117 Jocyt\u0117, Kate Martin, Kaila Charles, Miela Sowah (training camp) and Kaitlyn Chen (training camp). Forwards: Kayla\u00a0Thornton, Gabby Williams, Janelle Sala\u00fcn, Cecilia Zandalasini, Laeticia Amihere (training camp) and Cate Reese (training camp). Centers: Iliana Rupert, Kiah Stokes and Mariella Fasoula (training camp).<\/p>\n

Minimum roster size under the WNBA\u2019s new collective bargaining agreement was increased to 12, allowing two additional spots for developmental players, setting up the Valkyries for a tight competition toward the back end of their roster. They enter Monday\u2019s three-round draft with the No. 8, No. 23 and No. 38 picks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of the WNBA draft on Monday, the Golden State Valkyries were actively reinforcing their roster through free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[18739,116560,115619,101,103,102,104,106,105,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-266782","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-golden-state-valkyries","9":"tag-kayla-thornton","10":"tag-ohemaa-nyanin","11":"tag-san-francisco","12":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","13":"tag-san-francisco-news","14":"tag-sf","15":"tag-sf-headlines","16":"tag-sf-news","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266782\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}