SAN FRANCISCO — When the ball is in her hands.
The feel of the leather, as it spins beneath her fingertips, soothes Veronica Burton. Processing the defense, analyzing her teammates’ positioning, and their dispositions. She finds it invigorating, yet serene. At the top of the set, her mind flipping through the options, all the eyes pointed at her, that’s where she feels the belonging. At point guard.
She’s worked for this. Yearned for it. Even wondered in whispers whether it would come. Certainly not so soon.
But Golden State coach Natalie Nakase, also a point guard at her core, recognized that essence in Burton. And the Valkyries needed a floor general. So Burton finds herself, finally, right at home.
“The element of trust that my coach has in me,” she said, “it instilled in me just a different type of confidence. … I think that’s every point guard’s dream. And it challenges me in a way that I haven’t been challenged before. But I love it. Every part about it. I’ve wanted it, and I’m just grateful to have it right now.”
Making the playoffs, punctuating this inaugural season with an improbable feat, requires all the valiance they can muster. This debut season has extracted its pound of flesh. Injuries, an unkind schedule, an unsettled rotation — they’ve added a degree of difficulty to this final push.
Golden State’s defense, ranked No. 6 in the WNBA, is postseason-worthy, especially at Chase Center. Only the Minnesota Lynx, owners of the league’s best record, have a better defensive rating at home than the Valkyries at Ballhalla. The question will be their offense and whether they can score enough. Losing Kayla Thornton, their leading scorer, to a season-ending injury left a void.
This challenge only underscores Burton’s emergence. Her game blossomed at an optimal time. The fourth-year point guard finding this new level is proof of life for a team long expected to fade away.
“This is a brand new team,” Nakase said, “and she decided to take the leadership role of a point guard with no fear.”
Burton, a gem discovered in the expansion draft, flourished with an increased load. Her confidence grows with the degree of difficulty. The stakes increase with every game for Golden State. Just seven remain, with the Valkyries in the middle of a five-team joust for the last three playoff spots. Burton is critical to them hanging tough. And in the critical moments to come, when the big plays need to be made, the Valkyries have reason to believe.
When the ball is in her hands.
“I think the biggest surprise,” she said, “and jump for myself, and leap, it’s just been the mental fortitude. The mental toughness and just the confidence.”
Over Golden State’s last six games, she averaged 19.5 points in 32.3 minutes, along with 8.5 assists, 1.5 steals and even blocked six shots — all team highs in that span. She also shot 50 percent from the field, including 39.5 percent from 3, with 4.2 rebounds. It’s easily the best stretch of her career.
Watching Burton this season, especially lately, doesn’t suggest a player who needed to accrue confidence. She more resembles a player who’s been doing this for years in the W. The way she zips crossovers to get by defenders and uses her broad shoulders to create leverage when finishing at the rim. How aggressively she drives downhill off pick-and-rolls, followed by a fluid spin in either direction, putting pressure on the heart of the defense. The way she sees the whole floor, anticipates her cutting teammates, hitting them with left-hand lasers or meticulous bounce passes in stride.
But, no, this is revelatory. Early returns on the investment in her faith and hustle. The fruit of perseverance from three seasons of struggle. She’d been glued to benches, in and out of lineups, waived, and left exposed for the expansion draft. She came to Golden State a bit hesitant, uncertain, cautious — yet clinging to the hope of a harvest.
“She just kind of came in and she was traumatized,” said assistant coach Sugar Rodgers, who works with the point guards. “I know that’s such a deep word. But you have trauma when you’re cut. So when she came here, she was kind of a shell, right? And then we’re trying to pry it open to find the pearl in the shell.”
Another day, another masterclass from @Veronicaab22 🙂↔️✨🪽
25 points, 13 assist, 5 rebounds, AND 4 blocks — the heater continues. pic.twitter.com/Up91ExYYGI
— Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) August 24, 2025
Burton’s always had the skill and the physique. At 5-foot-9, she’s solid and strong, but still has some wiggle with the rock. Her shot is reliable. And she’s a gamer. What she lacks in explosiveness, she compensates for with a subtle ferociousness.
Burton’s progression as a pro has been managing her versatility, putting it all together. That’s the fortuitous break Burton got with the Valkyries. She landed with coaches who knew the pearl was buried in the shell. Opportunity greeted her in the Bay.
“She got to camp early,” her mom, Ginni, said. “But she called home and I remember her saying, ‘We got a great coach, and all I need is a coach to believe in me. That’s all I need.’ And it was.”
Rodgers, after starring at Georgetown, spent eight seasons in the league on three teams. She won a title, made an All-Star and won Sixth Woman of the Year. She’s also been at the end of the bench and wrestled with the same uncertainties.
She saw Burton, past the initial timidity in her eyes.
It had been an arduous journey to the Bay. Burton, after starring at Northwestern, was selected No. 7 by Dallas in the 2022 draft and spent two seasons coming off the bench for the Wings. Burton averaged 14.5 minutes in two seasons with the Wings. Dallas waived her three days before the opener. That was the lowest point.
“After she got cut, I remember her being in her room reading the Bible,” her dad, Steve, said. “I walked in and she goes, ‘Dad, I can’t believe it.’ I said, ‘Vee, this may not be about you. This may be even bigger than you.’ You may have to go through this to help somebody else when they get cut.”
Nearly a month later, Burton signed with Connecticut. She played even less with the Sun, averaging 12.9 minutes for the title contenders last season. She showed some flashes of a growing player, but not enough to be one of the six players Connecticut would protect from the expansion draft.
Burton was headed down a familiar road after the first Valkyries game. She gets down on herself sometimes when it doesn’t go well. The calm typically painted on her face hides her internal bouts. The inner turmoil resumed when she went 0-of-4 in the season opener, a 17-point loss to Los Angeles.
But the next day, Burton had a one-on-one film session with Nakase.
“I’m an MFer,” Nakase said. “I MF people. That’s my personality. I’m very stern. I like to use cuss words.”
She didn’t during this session. Nakase, sensing Burton’s frustration, assured her point guard the performance wasn’t as bad as it felt. That she would be fine. That she’d still have the ball in her hands. She’d still have a chance to lead this team.
The next game, Burton had 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists in 29 minutes. More than that, she breathed. Exhaling the toxins of doubt. Inhaling the security she hadn’t felt since college, when coach Joe McKeown made her feel this free.
“That was just a different reassurance in this league that I hadn’t had,” Burton said.
It was permission to unleash her game. The Valkyries wanted her to, needed her to, thanks to the nature of their cobbled roster that would endure persistent fluctuations all season.
Rodgers stays on Burton about her body language. She can’t relapse psychologically. Even the briefest deviation from her poise could have an outsized impact on a new and fluid roster. Especially on a team lacking a superstar.
“I have my moments for sure,” Burton said, “and inside, it’s maybe not always as calm and collected.”
So they need Burton to model the ethos. Be the floor general. Be the playmaker. Bring the intensity and the steadiness. Be the embodiment of their worthiness. With little room for error, the Valkyries need every edge.
“I said Vee,” Nakase said. “Can you MF some of these teammates?”
Evidence of Burton’s freedom: She didn’t do it. It wasn’t her style. Instead, she chose encouragement and relationship. She spent the season building with each teammate, forging the kind of camaraderie that translates on the court.
“She didn’t get manipulated by me,” Nakase said, breaking into a smile, “… to be a different person. She said, ‘I’m more like this. I lead this way. I lead by example, and I push the buttons of the relationships that I build between each player.’ So give her credit. She stayed true to herself.”
Roll the clip ✨🪽 pic.twitter.com/rNyLLGmijZ
— Golden State Valkyries (@valkyries) August 25, 2025
That’s what makes even the humble point guard beam with pride. She found herself in this league, faster than it seemed she would.
Burton deflects praise like passes in the paint. She might be more comfortable discussing an ex than one of her 20 and 10 games. But what she can’t hide is the appreciation.
In the WNBA, roster spots are scarce. The addition of Golden State bumped the total to 156. First-round picks aren’t safe. Teams change role players like bed sheets. For many, timing and opportunity, even politics, decide their fate as much as their talent. Burton was one of those existing on the fringes of the league.
“With her background of being in and out of the league,” Rodgers said, “and having to adjust to different roles, she’s just like, ‘Whatever it is for the team, I’m going to sacrifice for the team.’ She’s selfless. She’s always thinking about the team, never about herself.”
But Burton always knew she had the capacity for more. It’s in her blood. Her grandfather, Ron, a College Football Hall of Famer, was a running back at Northwestern who was drafted to the NFL and AFL in 1960. He spent six seasons playing for the AFL’s Boston Patriots. Her mother, Ginni, was an All-American swimmer at Northwestern, where her father played quarterback and handed off to her uncle, Ron Jr. Both of her older sisters hooped in college, Kendall at Villanova and Kayla at Lehigh. Her brother, Austin, played quarterback at Purdue.
Burton, the youngest of the four, and like her siblings, cousins and thousands of other youth in Massachusetts, formed her foundation at the Ron Burton Training Village.
In 1985, Burton’s grandfather — who bought 305 acres of land in Hubbardston, Mass., filled with trees and streams some 60 miles west of Boston — opened his summer camp for at-risk youth. It was the first step in holistic development in youth, focusing on fitness, education, spiritual growth and leadership.
Four decades later, it’s still going.
“It really brings people together,” Burton said. “Builds character, faith, education. All of that. It’s really special. It’s my favorite place to be. I love it. I’ve been going all my life. I grew up there. At first, it was all boys. Like 125 boys. It was so fun.”
Eventually, girls were included in the camp and she was no longer just a daughter trying to keep up with the boys. During the Olympic break, after not playing much for the Sun, she went back to The Village in the middle of camp. Recharged on that old energy.
From back when she did everything the campers did. They rose at 5 a.m. to run seven miles through the forest, five times a week, and so did she. They played pickup Friday and Saturday nights, and she played with them. She did the quiet times and the clinics, the training and the nature jaunts.
The Village is where Burton learned how to work hard and compete with composure. Where she honed the skills, toughness and perspective now guiding the Valkyries. Where she earned the assurance that she’s a worthy point guard capable of leading a team.
When the ball is in her hands.
(Top photo of Veronica Burton: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)