Golden State Valkyries ahead Kayla Thornton will miss the remainder of the 2025 WNBA season after present process surgical procedure on her proper knee, the crew introduced Friday.
The damage occurred throughout a current follow and required speedy intervention, with the profitable process happening July 25. The Valkyries confirmed Thornton is out for the season and can start rehabilitation, although no additional timeline has been offered.
The information marks a significant setback for Golden State’s inaugural season and removes the crew’s main scorer, rebounder, and high defensive participant from its playoff pursuit. Thornton, 31, was within the midst of a career-best marketing campaign, averaging 14.0 factors, 7.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals whereas taking part in in all 22 video games and rating among the many league leaders in minutes.
“KT is tremendous dependable,” Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase stated. “She’s constructed confidence by way of her arduous work. I like when folks present me they wish to be that individual. They don’t simply discuss it.”
Kayla Thornton Has Been a Tradition Setter
Thornton was named the franchise’s first All-Star final week and delivered a signature efficiency with 15 factors, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists. In clutch conditions, she had persistently been Golden State’s nearer, hitting late-game photographs to shut out wins.
“She closed the sport,” Nakase stated earlier this season. “Sparks, she closed the sport. In Chicago, she closed the sport with a 3. Seattle, she closed the sport with a 3. Washington, she closed with a 4-point play. That’s fairly dependable down the stretch.”
Golden State entered the All-Star break at 10–12, one spot out of the playoff image. The franchise had outpaced early expectations, due largely to Thornton’s management and stability on the ground.
“I actually give a variety of credit score to KT as a result of her steadiness all through the course of the sport retains us calm,” Nakase stated. “When she’s calm, we’re calm.”
Her management was simply as vital off the court docket. Thornton, a WNBA champion with the New York Liberty in 2024, introduced championship pedigree and expertise to an enlargement roster full of younger expertise and function gamers.
A Legacy of Resilience and Respect
For Thornton, the second was years within the making.
“If I didn’t undergo getting lower twice or undergo what I did, then I don’t assume I might be who I’m,” Thornton stated. “You bought to undergo robust moments to come back out and have nice moments like these.”
A gritty, undrafted ahead who carved out a job with the Dallas Wings and later received a title in New York, Thornton embraced her function because the face of the league’s latest franchise.
“We’re a defensive crew,” she stated earlier this month. “We’ve bought to return into the books, sit down collectively as a crew, re-evaluate one another, re-evaluate ourselves, re-evaluate us as a crew, and determine what we now have to do.”
The damage prompted an outpouring of help from throughout the WNBA, together with former teammates and opponents alike.
“I feel that’s the good place for her,” stated Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Grey, who performed with Thornton in Dallas. “In my eyes, she’s at all times been an All-Star, however to have the ability to go to Golden State and show it — I’m simply so pleased for her.”
Liberty ahead and former teammate Breanna Stewart echoed the sentiment.
“She’s a canine, she’s a workhorse,” Stewart stated. “Actually pleased for her to proceed to type of lead in a brand new franchise, however clearly unhappy to have misplaced her as a result of she was key for us profitable. And figuring out she’s significantly better taking part in with than taking part in in opposition to.”
Stewart signed off her tribute with a message shared extensively on-line: “They bought a dawg. We love you KT.”
Thornton’s damage leaves the Valkyries looking for solutions. Forwards Laeticia Amihere, Monique Billings, and Cecilia Zandalasini are anticipated to soak up extra accountability, however Thornton’s two-way impression and management can be tough to duplicate.
Her season ends prematurely, however Thornton’s legacy as the primary All-Star and defining determine of Golden State’s launch is already safe.
