Newton’s Veronica Burton wins WNBA Most Improved Player

Veronica Burton was named WNBA Most Improved Player on Monday. (Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

A little more than one year ago, Veronica Burton’s WNBA career was in jeopardy after being cut by the Dallas Wings before the start of the 2024 season. She then signed with the Connecticut Sun and latched on as a valued bench player.

One season later, and everything has changed for the Newton, Mass., native.

The WNBA named Burton its Most Improved Player on Monday after she led the Golden State Valkyries to the playoffs in their first year as an expansion franchise. Burton started every game at point guard and averaged 11.9 points, 6.0 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals, all massive career highs. She earned 68 of 72 votes for the award.

A former high school star at Newton South and college standout at Northwestern, Burton is the first player in league history to increase her averages by at least five points, two rebounds and two assists per game, per the WNBA press release. She became a serviceable 34.5 percent 3-point shooter, with her 61 made threes nearly doubling her previous three seasons combined, and one of the league’s better perimeter defenders.

Burton also emerged as the orchestrator of a Valkyries offense that rained down a league-high 9.7 threes per game. Her 6.0 assists ranked third in the WNBA and her 2.82 assist-to-turnover ratio was fourth, among other notable statistics.

Good morning! Let’s talk Veronica Burton and a niche part of her Most Improved Player campaign

Burton ranks 2nd in the WNBA in 3PT assists per game. Her 2.76 such assists are only behind Alyssa Thomas (at 4.53!) and t-4th in WNBA history since 2009 (!) per PBP.

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— Ethan Fuller (@ethman43) August 31, 2025

Burton currently has the eighth-seeded Valkyries in the first round of the WNBA playoffs, where they trailed 1-0 to the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx.