The Valkyries have played their way into several award conversations. After leading her team to a playoff spot without its lone All-Star, Natalie Nakase should be the favorite to win Coach of the Year. Veronica Burton, who went from being a defensive-minded backup to the Valkyries’ offensive engine, is one of the front-runners for the Most Improved Player award.
While Burton may not have represented the Valkyries at the All-Star Game in Indianapolis, she has been one of the few constants for a team that had to deal with injuries and absences all season long. She leads the team in points, assists, steals, and minutes per game (if you don’t count Kayla Thornton for the latter stat). She could also become the Valkyries’ first-ever All-WNBA selection.
On the September 9 episode of No Offseason, The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant, Ben Pickman, and Zena Keita discussed all major end-of-season awards. While making the case for Veronica Burton to be named Most Improved Player, Merchant said, “She [Burton] is, I think, making my second team All-WNBA.”
If other voters put Burton on their ballot as well and she makes an All-WNBA team, it would only add to the Valkyries’ historic first season. It would also be another conversation the Valkyries crashed successfully. At the beginning of the season, few people would have expected a Valkyries player to make an All-WNBA team.
Not many players from expansion teams have made an All-WNBA team
Since 1998, several expansion teams have been added to the WNBA. Very few had a player on an All-WNBA team in its inaugural season.
In 1998, Cindy Brown made the All-WNBA Second Team for the Detroit Shock. She averaged 11.8 points, 10 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. A year later, the Orlando Miracle’s Shannon Johnson also made the All-WNBA Second Team. Johnson averaged 14 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.7 steals.
No other expansion team was represented on an All-WNBA team in its first season. So, Burton would only be the third player to receive that honor in their first season with an expansion team and the first in the 2000s.
Burton has a strong case, but so do many other players
With two games left in the season, Veronica Burton is averaging 12 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1 steal per game, marking a huge jump in production compared to last season.
She ranks fourth in total assists in the league, trailing only Alyssa Thomas, Courtney Williams, and Skylar Diggins. Burton also set a new single-season record for most games with at least ten assists and zero turnovers. Even when she dished out a career-high 14 assists in a 98-91 loss to the Phoenix Mercury, Burton didn’t turn the ball over.
Burton is one of only seven players in the league averaging at least 12 points and five assists per game—eight if you count Caitlin Clark, who averaged 16.5 points and 8.8 assists over the 13 games she played. Out of that group, only Paige Bueckers averages fewer assists than Burton.
While those numbers give Burton a great foundation for an All-WNBA candidacy, the spots on those teams will be hard to come by. The All-WNBA First Team is almost full already, with Napheesa Collier, A’ja Wilson, Alyssa Thomas, and Allisha Gray surely taking up four spots. Kelsey Mitchell, who trails only Wilson in total points scored, also has a very strong case. So do Nneka Ogwumike, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Sabrina Ionescu, Paige Bueckers, Aliyah Boston, Skylar Diggins, and Kayla McBride, among others.