El Paso’s Kayla Thornton is headed to a new WNBA team.
For the first time since 2008, a new WNBA team is joining the league. On Friday night, the Golden State Valkyries had a selection of available players in the WNBA expansion draft.
Among the players drafted by Golden State was Thornton, who helped the New York Liberty win the 2024 WNBA title in October.
Thornton, a forward, spent the past two seasons with the Liberty and played a key role off the bench, averaging 5.5 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. The 32-year-old also shot 35.7% from 3-point range and averaged the sixth-most minutes on the team (20.2).
The Liberty decided not to protect Thornton from being selected in the expansion draft.
According to the rules of the draft, every team in the league was allowed to designate a maximum of six “protected players” on its roster who would not be available in the draft.
Thornton’s career includes six seasons with the Dallas Wings before joining New York, Thornton has averaged 7.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 274 games, including 143 starts.
Thornton was a star at Irvin High School and UTEP and recently had ceremonies retiring her numbers at both schools. She wore at No. 11 at Irvin and No. 5 at UTEP.
At Irvin, she was the El Paso Times’ City MVP as a senior and at UTEP she helped the team to the 2014 WNIT finals when she was a senior.
Who coaches the Golden State Valkyries?
The WNBA’s 13th franchise is coached by Natalie Nakase. She was in Las Vegas for the past three seasons as member Becky Hammon’s Aces coaching staff. She played basketball at UCLA as a walk-on who is a fierce competitor.
Golden State Valkyries roster
The Valkyries have a team rooted in international stardom. Here are the players picked up in the expansion draft, according to the team’s website:
- Iliana Rupert (Atlanta Dream) (Rookie-France)
- María Conde (Chicago Sky) (Rookie-Spain)
- Veronica Burton (Connecticut Sun) (3 years-USA)
- Carla Leite (Dallas Wings) (Rookie-France)
- Temi Fagbenle (Indiana Fever) (4 years-United Kingdom)
- Kate Martin (Las Vegas Aces) (1 year-Iowa)
- Stephanie Talbot (Los Angeles Sparks) (Six years-Australia)
- Cecilia Zandalasini (Minnesota Lynx) (3 years-Italy)
- Kayla Thornton (New York Liberty) (14 years-El Paso)
- Monique Billings (Phoenix Mercury) (7 years-USA)
- Julie Vanloo (Washington Mystics) (1 year-Belgium)
New York Liberty statement on Kayla Thornton
“It is incredibly difficult to say goodbye to a player like KT who contributed to the New York Liberty in so many ways over these past two years, including our franchise’s first-ever championship,” said Liberty General Manager Jonathan Kolb said in a statement to media outlets. “KT quickly became an indelible part of the Liberty family during her two seasons here.”
More: Basketball News UTEP set to honor its greatest player on Kayla Thornton Day at Don Haskins Center
Felix F. Chavez can be reached at fchavez@elpasotimes.com; @Fchavezeptimes on X
