{"id":594613,"date":"2026-04-20T00:25:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T00:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594613\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T00:25:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T00:25:20","slug":"valkyries-leader-veronica-burton-says-championship-thats-the-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/594613\/","title":{"rendered":"Valkyries leader Veronica Burton says: \u2018Championship, that\u2019s the goal\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fresh off a historic playoff berth their inaugural season, the Golden State Valkyries<\/a> got back to action for training camp on Sunday afternoon looking to make a deep run in Year 2.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not everyone was in camp on day one \u2014 new addition Gabby Williams is among those yet to arrive \u2014 but absent a full squad, the pillars of a legitimate contender filled the downtown Oakland facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One is Veronica Burton,<\/a> who emerged a star last year with the accolades to show for it. She\u2019s the WNBA\u2019s reigning Most Improved Player and a second-team all defensive player whose growth shows in the numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In her first year with Golden State \u2014 since they acquired her from the Connecticut Sun in the expansion draft \u2014 she became the first player in\u00a0WNBA history to multiply her average stats by five points, two rebounds and two assists per game year over year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She did that partially for the team\u2019s needs in the wake of Kayla Thornton\u2019s<\/a> season-ending knee injury last July, but in so doing became a key to the Valkyries\u2019 success. She comes to camp as a team leader, the team\u2019s backbone.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor someone like me, it\u2019s more familiar, so that\u2019s helpful,\u201d Burton said of training camp. \u201cComing back. Having that camaraderie with the coaching staff and my teammates\u00a0\u2014 it\u2019s always a little bit more comfortable being back and welcoming in new faces. It\u2019s really exciting for them to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

That familiarity will grow. Thornton signed a multiyear deal to stay with Golden State on April 11, when free agency opened after the new collective bargaining agreement was officially signed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burton had an impressive year individually, but her goals for 2026 are about the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur expectations aren\u2019t based on last year,\u201d Burton said. \u201cLast year was incredible. We smashed a lot of expectations but we have new ones this year. We want to compete for a championship, that\u2019s the goal, that\u2019s the reason why we\u2019re here. So it\u2019s not based on last year, it\u2019s off us competing, being professional athletes and wanting to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another pillar returning to the floor is\u00a0Thornton, the team\u2019s heartbeat who said she should be ready to go for Game 1 against the Seattle Storm on May 8 following right knee surgery last July. She said the rehab journey was full of \u201chighs and lows\u201d but \u201cI\u2019m back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were days I felt I was on top of the mountain and days where I was like, \u2018What\u2019s going on?\u2019\u201d Thornton said. \u201cIt was a journey. To be back with my team, to finally be able to go against other people is great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head coach Natalie Nakase was more cautious to commit to Thornton\u2019s rapid return, saying she is a \u201cbig believer in health, so let\u2019s take it one day at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Briefly: The Valkyries re-signed Tiffany Hayes, 36, to a one-year contract, the team announced Saturday. Hayes averaged 11.7 points, a career-high 3.8 rebounds and 3 assists with Golden State last year. \u2026 Also in camp were guards Caroline\u00a0Ducharme, Bailey Maupin and Ndjakalenga Mwenentanda, who signed training camp contracts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fresh off a historic playoff berth their inaugural season, the Golden State Valkyries got back to action for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":594614,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4804,51379,60205,99,7631,60207,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-594613","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-golden-state-valkyries","9":"tag-kayla-thornton","10":"tag-natalie-nakase","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tiffany-hayes","13":"tag-veronica-burton","14":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=594613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/594614"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=594613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=594613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=594613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}