In a bizarre coincidence — or maybe a blessing in disguise — Kayla and Veronica Burton were back home together between May and June.
Veronica had just been cut by the Dallas Wings on May 12, two days before the start of the WNBA season. She packed her bags quickly and returned to her family in Newton, Mass. Kayla, a journalist, was also in a transition period, had moved to the Boston area, and would soon join the NBC Sports Boston coverage team. At that time, they both thought long and hard about Veronica's murky professional future.
Kayla would rebound for Veronica at the Newton YMCA. She saw her baby sister, the seventh overall pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft and perhaps the best active women's basketball player from New England, surrounded by pickleball courts while her former teammates played in arenas.
"There's this one time where I was playing hardcore defense on her, and you could see the pain of just, this whole moment hitting her, because she was still working through it, still getting shots up, not knowing if she was going to be playing overseas or getting picked up, or what the scenario was going to be," Kayla said.
Then she adds: "But I remember just playing hardcore defense on her — mind you, she totally juked me out, and I almost went flying, like, breaking my ankles, and she started laughing. And we just kind of needed that laugh to take some edge off the whole situation."
Veronica Burton is back in the WNBA now. She signed with the Connecticut Sun on June 5 and has become an impact defender on a championship contender. Her true homecoming comes on Tuesday when the Sun play the Los Angeles Sparks at TD Garden. Veronica will be on the court, Kayla will be on the concourse as a host and their mom, Ginni, will be celebrating her birthday.
But Veronica is also back in a different sense. She lost her job in one of the most selective professional sports leagues in the world with no certainty of returning. Getting cut tested Veronica's faith, both in God and in herself.
"If you asked me, right when I got cut, if this is what I wanted, I would have had no idea," Veronica said. "And it's easy to kind of just talk negatively or whatever it may be. But I think God works in incredible ways, and this is a testament of that."
Kayla, a former Division 1 player at Lehigh, calls Veronica the most consistent hard worker in the Burton family. That's what powered her through a legendary high school career at Newton South and AP All-American status at Northwestern to her spot as a pro. But the WNBA standard is so high; only 144 roster spots exist in the league, less than third of the NBA. Bona fide talents are routinely left without a team every season. Kayla saw Veronica grappling with that reality in shootarounds.
"You could see the frustration," Kayla said. "Even if she missed one. She would make nine out of 10 (shots), but the one she missed, she took the ball and almost wanted to chuck it, and it almost broke me watching her because I wanted to be like, 'You got this.'"
Veronica has been an early riser dating back to her 5:30 a.m. workouts before high school. She has stuck with Newton South coach Joe Rogers since those days, and reconvened with him to train at 6 a.m. at the Hyde Community Center in Newton during her time as a free agent.
"I'm really grateful for him," Veronica said. "Whenever I'm home, I know, whether my career is at the highest of highs or lowest of lows, he'll be in the gym with me."
Rogers is a quieter instructor by nature. During their 1-on-1 workouts, you wouldn't hear much more than the bouncing of a basketball, the squeaking of shoes, and the occasional question or critique. Rogers knew Veronica's confidence was shaken, both by her rocky two seasons in Dallas and her release. He also knew telling Veronica she was good enough wouldn't cut it — she needed proof.
"You've got to see the ball go in in order to do it," Rogers said. "Let's get a little less talk, and let's generate evidence. Let's get in here and get you making shots and feeling good about your ability to do these things."
Rogers went back and catalogued Veronica's 3-point attempts as a pro. He explained that her percentages were weighed down by several outlier half-court and late-clock attempts. Remove those, and she made about 30 percent of her 3s – not a strong clip, but something to build on, and closer to proficiency than she realized.
He then built out specific regiments for Veronica. One workout plan Rogers provided included six 10-minute segments of drills designed around her scoring in various situations: stationary shooting, pick-and-roll actions, movement shooting, and relocating after a pass. He specifically wanted to widen the base of Veronica's shooting form, something they noticed had shifted in recent seasons.
"She's going to be a backup point guard in the WNBA, so they are pretty heavy on a combination of ball-screen work and shooting the type of shots that she takes in games," Rogers said. "Without a team, you know exactly what that's going to be less, but you still have a sense that it's going to be coming off of ball screens, it's going to be kind of relocation stuff off of drive-and-kicks, and those are kind of the most likely shots she's taking."
Kayla saw Veronica's confidence return slowly, buoyed by both sustained work and her commitment to her faith.
"When she finally got fired, the worst of the worst happened, and it's like, OK, you alone have to go on this journey with God and develop your own confidence," Kayla said. "There's no coach, there's no minutes, you don't have any stat line. It's just you, yourself and God who go to work here. And that's exactly what she did."
What people don’t see…
The resiliency of @Veronicaab22
(Saw it first hand, rebounding for her in a local gym)
Albeit being cut and all the emotions that came w/, she lived in the gym and made sure she stayed ready when her opportunity came.
It’s here… Go shine baby sis❤️ https://t.co/kobk3fGKRm pic.twitter.com/vOcZnmZio2
— Kayla Burton (@Kay_Breezy22) June 5, 2024
The Burton family is devoted to their religious faith; Kayla says it's common for her father Steve, the longtime sports anchor at WBZ-TV in Boston, to halt family proceedings at convenient and inconvenient times for short prayer. Veronica, though introspective, is one of the most disciplined in her family.
Kayla would often come by the Burton home to find an office room door shut, and Ginni would tell her it was Veronica practicing her Bible devotions. Reading the Bible every day helped ground Veronica amidst a chaotic professional lifestyle. She spent two years in Dallas, but like many WNBA players, she also competed overseas, spending last "offseason" playing in Lublin, Poland.
"Every morning I'll wake up, (and) whatever time I've got to wake up, I'll wake up 30 minutes earlier, and just get in the Word," Veronica said. "I think that really just sets a tone for my day and allows me to know who I'm playing for, what I'm doing this for, and all of it, and just kind of gives me a sense of purpose and a sense of peace."
The weeks still dragged on. Veronica watched and replayed WNBA film to learn teams' play styles in case they signed her. Kayla felt the awkwardness of asking for updates, knowing that no news meant progressively worse news. She would soon have to think about her next team being overseas again.
One time, Kayla was in her family's home and overheard Veronica break down in front of Steve, telling him she didn't know what would happen next.
"I heard my dad being dad to Veronica, and just saying, 'No matter what, Veronica, you're going to be OK.' And I think that just kind of made her take a breath," Kayla said. "Everyone I think, especially her included, needed to hear that."
Veronica stayed in touch with her agent and started hearing of interest from other WNBA teams. Among them was the Sun, a perennial defensive stalwart unbeaten at the time, led by Alyssa Thomas. Rogers began tailoring Veronica's workouts to include Sun-specific plays. Then she got the call; Kayla was with her family when Ginni called her upstairs to join her and Veronica.
"And Veronica, in the most hush-hush voice, goes, 'I think I'm back playing,'" Kayla said. "I'm, like, crying of joy, and she's like, 'All right, just chill, chill, we'll see how it plays out, but I think it's going to be close to home here in Connecticut.'"
The Sun announced the signing on June 5. Suddenly, Veronica wasn't just back in the league — she was atop the WNBA standings in a completely different situation than she was with the rebuilding Wings.
"That's where you want to be; you want to be competing for the best and with the best," Veronica said. "So I was really excited to get that opportunity, and then there's also just — I mean, in the back of your head, it's like, OK, what else did they even need?"
Connecticut sought out Veronica for her defense that has long been her calling card since she won three Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year awards at Northwestern. She immediately went to work with some of the league's best defenders like Thomas, DiJonai Carrington and Tiffany Mitchell.
"I think I've even been able to learn and grow as a defender," Veronica said. "They always want to be the aggressors on the defensive side of things, rather than kind of letting offenses get comfortable, and so just really buying into that has been the biggest thing. They've definitely challenged me, but they've also encouraged me and said, 'Look this is where you thrive, this is what we need from you, and this is what we want to see.'"
Burton has averaged 11.2 minutes across 15 games with the Sun, including one start, before the WNBA hit the Olympic break. Rogers keeps tabs on how Burton is doing, both from a general production perspective and with some of the individual details they worked on. Kayla is undoubtedly Veronica's biggest hype woman on Twitter/X.
"When you see your younger baby sister go through a really difficult time — especially when you know how good she is — I felt really passionate about, man, she just needs to be in the right system that gets it, and she also needs to do her part too," Kayla said. "... She needed a rude awakening. I think it came at the right time where her confidence wasn't sky high, and she needed to get cut to generate her own confidence and remember who she is out there on the court."
On July 1, Veronica logged her best game with Connecticut to date, posting 11 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and a 2-of-3 clip from 3-point range in a win against the Phoenix Mercury. The night before, she posted a Bible verse on her Instagram story, Psalm 56:4: "In God, whose word I praise — in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?" She also added a caption.
"Praise is something that I don't feel I do enough — and I've been trying to implement it more lately," she wrote. "Not just talk to him, not just vent to him, not just think about him, but to distinctly take time to praise him."
Veronica later explained why that reflection mattered, and how it kept her afloat when her dream was in jeopardy.
"I think it's so easy, especially for me, to get wrapped up in just asking for God or for things, or venting to God," she said. "I think in a lot of low moments, you can run to God, and that's where faith can come in. But I think when things are going really well, or even when things aren't going well, I think praising him was something that I needed to prioritize, because rather than doubting, rather than questioning, I think that kind of just shifts my mindset and shifts my perspective.
"Even when I did get cut from Dallas, I think no one really thinks, OK, let me go praise God after you get cut, or let me go praise God after you fail a midterm, or whatever it may be. And I think that's the time that we need to praise him the most, because that's the time where he's working and he's building — building my faith, and he's building my endurance and my perseverance."
