Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton won the WNBA's Most Improved Player award, the league announced Monday.
Burton received 68 of 72 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. Azura Stevens finished in second place with two votes, and Allisha Gray and Natisha Hiedeman tied for third with one vote each.
Burton averaged career highs of 11.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.1 steals in 44 games, a drastic improvement from her 2024 campaign with the Connecticut Sun. Last season, Burton averaged just 3.1 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 12.7 minutes per game. She became the first player in WNBA history to increase her averages by at least five points, two rebounds and two assists per game from one season to the next (minimum 30 games played in each season), according to the WNBA.
In her fourth year in the league, Burton capitalized on her increased role with the league's first expansion franchise since 2008. She was the only Valkyries player to start all 44 regular-season games and took on even greater responsibilities when Golden State lost Kayla Thornton to a season-ending knee injury in July.
Burton ended the regular season ranked third in the WNBA in assists per game and fourth with a 2.82 assist-to-turnover ratio (min. 10 games played). On Aug. 19 against the Phoenix Mercury, she became the first player in WNBA history to have at least 24 points and 14 assists with no turnovers in a game. She is the only player in the league this season with three games of 10 or more assists and zero turnovers.
She also frequently took on the assignment of defending the opponent's top guards.
Burton was drafted by the Dallas Wings with the seventh overall pick in the 2022 draft. After playing two seasons with Dallas and one season with Connecticut, she was selected by the Valkyries in the 2024 expansion draft.