Thornton selected as Golden State Valkyries first All-Star

Kayla Thornton s breakthrough season with the Valkyries will include being expansion Golden State s inaugural WNBA All-Star representative later this month in Indianapolis The league stated Sunday morning that the veteran forward was named a reserve for the July championship Related Articles Valkyries begin road swing with loss to Minnesota It was heartbreaking Why Valkyries moved on from Julie Vanloo after EuroBasket stint Valkyries superfan Podziemski takes Warriors rookies to WNBA match Atmosphere was unbelievable Golden State Valkyries waive Julie Vanloo others as roster shuffle continues WNBA expanding to Cleveland Detroit and Philadelphia over next five years It s the first All-Star invitation for Thornton who is her th season in the WNBA Thornton who went undrafted out of Texas El-Paso was the greater part experienced sportsman the Valkyries selected in the expansion draft and she has been a big reason Golden State is off to a - start heading into Monday s match at Atlanta KT is super reliable Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase commented in a release issued by the organization 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 Thornton who scored the first basket in franchise history has started all games for Golden State leading the crew in with points and rebounds per encounter Both would be career-highs for Thornton She averaged double-figures in scoring once before this season with Dallas in and her previous high in rebounds was per contest in She is th in the WNBA with steals per battle th in rebounds and st in points She is one of five WNBA players averaging at least points seven rebounds and steals along with reigning MVP A ja Wilson reigning Defensive Contestant of the Year Napheesa Collier five-time All-Star Alyssa Thomas and three-time All-Star Dearica Hamby Making the All-Star band wasn t something that was on Thornton s mind when she arrived to the Bay Area but she has credited her career year to her teammates It would be a blessing to show my hard work Thornton recounted the Bay Area News Group about the possibility of making her first All-Star match It s just a credit to my teammates They re the reason why I m here Related Articles Valkyries begin road swing with loss to Minnesota It was heartbreaking Why Valkyries moved on from Julie Vanloo after EuroBasket stint Valkyries superfan Podziemski takes Warriors rookies to WNBA match Atmosphere was unbelievable Golden State Valkyries waive Julie Vanloo others as roster shuffle continues WNBA expanding to Cleveland Detroit and Philadelphia over next five years Last month Thornton was the first Valkyries participant named WNBA Western Conference Member of the week after she averaged points rebounds and assist in Week Thornton has scored in double digits in all but two of the Valkyries games scoring or more four times and five double-doubles this year Thornton shined while the Valkyries had multiple players away for the EuroBasket tournament In June Thornton averaged points and rebounds while shooting from the -point line When you have someone that pours into us as much as she does it goes a long way Valkyries point guard Veronica Burton explained earlier this week I was fortunate to have KT as my vet in my rookie year in Dallas and her upsurge from then until now has been incredible to witness She s the anchor of our defense she s getting the the majority complicated matchup every single tournament So KT is crucial for us Twelve reserves were selected by the league s head coaches who voted for three guards five frontcourt players and four players at either position regardless of conference Indiana s Caitlin Clark and Minnesota s Collier will serve as group captains for the contest after receiving the the bulk fan votes They will draft their respective rosters by selecting from the remaining eight players in the pool of starters and then from the pool of reserves The draft will be shown live on ESPN on Tuesday at p m Pacific The tournament All-Star Meeting starts at p m on July and will be broadcast on ABC