06-07-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Valkyries' Kayla Thornton collects another franchise first: All-Star
ATLANTA — After scoring the first basket in franchise history and then becoming the first Valkyrie to earn Conference Player of the Week honors in June, Golden State forward Kayla Thornton added another milestone Sunday: a selection as the team's lone All-Star.
Chosen as a reserve, Thornton — who has started all 17 games — leads the Valkyries in minutes (30.0), points (14.9), and rebounds (7.1) per game, earning her first career All-Star nod in her 10th season. She is 10th in the WNBA in steals (1.6) while ranking 13th in rebounds, and 21st in points. She has 15 double-digit scoring performances this season, including four 20-plus games, and five double-doubles this year, all of which lead the team.
'KT is super reliable,' head coach Natalie Nakase said in a statement. 'She's built confidence through her hard work. I love when people show me that they want to be that person. They just don't talk about it, but KT backs it up with action and that's what I love about her. When she is consistent and vocal, we usually come out with a W.'
The 13 WNBA head coaches selected the 12 All-Star reserves, including former Stanford All-American and Washington rookie Kiki Iriafen.
Indiana's Caitlin Clark and Minnesota's Napheesa Collier, who were selected as captains for the game after receiving the most fan votes, will draft their respective rosters by selecting first from the remaining eight players in the pool of starters, and then from the pool of reserves to fill out the rosters.
Thornton is the Valkyries ' most experienced player and has become the expansion club's top offensive player. She is one of five players averaging at least 14 points, 7 rebounds and 1.5 steals, along with Las Vegas' A'ja Wilson, reigning Defensive Player of the Year Collier, five-time All-Star Alyssa Thomas and three-time All-Star Dearica Hamby.
'She's been our most reliable (player),' Nakase said after Saturday's loss at Minnesota. 'At the same time, she's closed multiple games. LA Sparks, she closed the game, against Chicago, she closed the game with a 3. Seattle, she closed the game with a 3. Washington, she closed the 3 with a foul and a four-point play. So that's pretty reliable down the stretch. So K.T., she deserves (to be) an All-Star.'
Rupert incoming: Center Iliana Rupert will join the Valkyries on July 15, her agent Omar Bendjador told the Chronicle. The 6-foot-4 front-court player was the Valkyries' expansion draft pick from the Atlanta Dream in December.
When she will begin practicing or playing remains unclear. The post-EuroBasket delay comes due to her getting married in the time between the tournament and her joining the team, Bendjador said.
Nakase, when asked about Rupert's status last week, told reporters, 'I don't know. You have to ask the front office that question.' General manager Ohemaa Nyanin told the Chronicle earlier this season that she anticipated Rupert to join the team this season.
Rupert, who will be the third French player on the roster alongside Janelle Salaün and Carla Leite, spent 2024-25 season playing for CBK Mersin in Turkey where she averaged 16.2 points, shooting 56.1% on two-point shots and 45.9% from 3-point range, 8.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.5 steals. Over 13 EuroLeague games, she averaged 14.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1.3 steals.
Rupert's addition means the Valkyries will have to make another roster cut. That will likely come down to rookie guard Kaitlyn Chen or forward Laeticia Amihere. The stretch-big is a former first-round pick to the Aces, where she played for Nakase in 2023, the last time she played in the WNBA. Rupert averaged 3.8 points, 2.3 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game as the Aces won the WNBA title.
Rotations: It was always going to take time for the Valkyries to find their rotational rhythm with Salaün and Cecilia Zandalasini 's return from EuroBasket, but Saturday's loss at Minnesota highlighted just how many changes the Valkyries have undergone.
Two of the Valkyries' five lowest-scoring games have come against league-best Minnesota, but the game was played without Leite, and Amihere didn't play at all off the bench.
Salaün and Zandalasini played just nine minutes each on Saturday after Temi Fagbenle missed two games upon her return as Nakase takes her time reintegrating the returners.
In the loss, Nakase used the starters for a combined 15.9 minutes, but no other unit played more than 3.5 minutes together. Salaün was a game-low minus-10 and scored no points, while Zandalasini was a minus-8 while shooting 0-for-5 from the floor.
