{"id":608166,"date":"2026-04-26T22:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T22:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/608166\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T22:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T22:06:17","slug":"natalie-nakase-praises-kayla-thornton-after-injury-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/608166\/","title":{"rendered":"Natalie Nakase praises Kayla Thornton after injury return"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 As per her postgame tradition, Golden State Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin<\/a> stood in the tunnel high-fiving and hyping up the trail of players coming off the court after their 78-76 preseason win over the Seattle Storm. Par for the course for the general manager who values the human element in this business.<\/p>\n

However, as Kayla Thornton rounded the corner, walking slowly, breathing heavily, but still grinning, Nyanin’s joy seemed to grow three times bigger as she greeted her with the loudest high-five of the night and an even louder smile.<\/p>\n

The why behind Nyanin’s unmistakable happiness for the All-Star is easy to decipher: Thornton had just completed her first game back since her season-ending knee injury last season. Six months of rehab and recovery culminated in a modest seven points on 3-of-8 shooting in 15 limited preseason minutes.<\/p>\n

After the game, coach Natalie Nakase<\/a> had nothing but praise<\/a> for Thornton.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had no fear, and that’s what I like to see,\u201d Nakase said. Thornton was a game-time decision coming into the game but once she told Nakase she felt good enough to play, she got the green light to start.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said she felt good before the game, and she was confident. And so I said, Let’s rock and roll \u2026 If you guys just saw the behind-the-scenes of six months of rehab, it’s tough. And so I think she got to really celebrate herself out there a little bit to show you guys how much hard work [she’s put in].\u201d<\/p>\n

Nakase said she didn’t get a chance to check in with how Thornton’s body was feeling<\/a> postgame because the team was too busy giving preseason standout Miela Sowah a water bottle shower. Otherwise, Nakase felt good about Thornton’s anticipated return.<\/p>\n

The work Kayla Thornton put in to make her return<\/p>\n

For Thornton, that hard work was spent mostly in the Bay, with a team of physical therapists and trainers to get her knee and body back in basketball shape. It’s a support system that Thornton credits for getting her through a tough time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were days where I felt like I was on top of the mountain, and there were days where I was just like, \u2018What’s going on?’\u201d Thornton recounted earlier this week at training camp. \u201cBut I’m so thankful for our medical staff. I’m so thankful for Ohemaa [Nyanin] and our PD coach who poured so much into me this offseason to get me to this point right here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nakase noted that with Thornton’s physicality and the way she carries herself as a leader, the team takes on a different kind of energy. Her teammate Veronica Burton understands the impact<\/a> of Thornton’s return on the Valkyries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome to see KT back, of course, as a player,\u201d Burton said postgame. \u201cSometimes with injury, you can play a little reserved or with a little bit of fear, but that’s not KT. Her as a leader, her voice, her energy, we all feed off of it. So it’s amazing to have KT back out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thornton still has a ways to go to get back to the All-Star level she was playing at before her injury \u2014 there’s still a lot of rust she has to knock off. But Step 1 of her return is complete, a step that Nakase believes is just the start.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just the beginning,\u201d Nakase said. \u201cKT, I’m gonna give her a lot of time to continue to build her strength back, and her timing and her rhythm with her teammates. But for a preseason game, I thought she was great.\u201d<\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 As per her postgame tradition, Golden State Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin stood in the tunnel high-fiving and hyping up the trail of players coming off the court after their 78-76 preseason win over the Seattle Storm. Par for the course for the general manager who values the human element in this business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 As per her postgame tradition, Golden State Valkyries general manager Ohemaa Nyanin stood in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4804,51379,60205,581,99,434,70753],"class_list":{"0":"post-608166","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-reporting","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-wnba","14":"tag-wnba-injury"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608166","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=608166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}