Veronica Burton has been essential to Valkyries' success. Will she deliver in the playoffs?

Veronica Burton kept deferring. She had hoisted 500 shots every day that week, with her dad Steve rebounding during their customary early-morning workouts, but then young Veronica became consumed with setting up her teammates in the first game of an AAU doubleheader.

She took only three shots. Not coincidentally, her team lost.

Steve Burton told Veronica, then 13 or 14, to get in the car so they could drive home. They were going to skip the second game, because what was the point of all that practice if Veronica was going to be so passive?

“She started crying,” Steve Burton recalled in a phone interview Monday. “She promised to take the shots she needed to take, so we turned around. She wiped away her tears, went back in the gym and scored 40. And they won.”

This speaks to the push-and-pull Veronica Burton still faces now, on a much bigger stage, as the Golden State Valkyries prepare for the WNBA playoffs. They enter Tuesday night’s game in Portland at 31-11, the league’s second-best record, and eye Sunday’s postseason opener with realistic ambitions of chasing the championship in only their second year of existence.

The Valkyries find themselves in this position mostly because of their defense, balance and depth. They also find themselves there because Burton, the point guard, runs the offense with instinctive unselfishness, more than happy to drive into the lane and whip the ball to an open teammate.

But in the playoffs, when games inevitably slow down, the Valkyries could need Burton to create her own offense more frequently. Will she embrace the assignment, even if her lifelong inclination is to set up others? And can she score in the postseason cauldron, against elite opponents?

Those questions loom for a central character in Golden State‘s swift, captivating rise to title contention. Burton’s journey is compelling and well documented: She struggled to find her footing as a pro in her first three years, bouncing from Dallas to Connecticut before joining the Valkyries and suddenly blossoming in head coach Natalie Nakase‘s democratic, defense-first system.

This year, tucked behind Gabby Williams‘ emergence as the top offensive threat, Burton has taken another step forward. Her numbers are similar to last season – 12 points and 5.7 assists per game this year, 11.9 and 6.0 last year – but she has become more assertive in driving to the basket, reflected in her improved shooting percentage (42.4%, up from 38.7).

Look closer and Burton’s efficiency inside the 3-point arc has fueled the increase. She’s shooting 47.5% on 2-pointers this season, a significant boost from her 42.3% rate last season.

Golden State Valkyries guard Veronica Burton puts up a lay-up against Washington Mystics guard Georgia Amoore during a game at Chase Center in July. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)

Other numbers support the suggestion Burton has built on her breakout year. She stood tied for sixth in the WNBA in assists (239) as of Monday, and sixth in steals (67). Burton also leads the league with an extraordinary assist-to-turnover ratio of 4-1.

Maybe the most telling statistic is this: Burton (7.1) ranks third in the WNBA in win shares, defined as an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player, per BasketballReference.com. That puts her behind only four-time league MVP A’ja Wilson (9.0) of Las Vegas and four-time All-Star Kelsey Mitchell (7.2) of Indiana, and ahead of longtime stars Breanna Stewart, Rhyne Howard and Jackie Young.

So Burton is having an undeniable impact on winning. She also realizes the ingredients for winning could shift in the playoffs, especially as teams craft game plans designed to limit Burton’s downhill forays and prevent Williams from going wild.

Asked how her game has expanded this season, Burton said, “With experience it continues to grow, with comfortability and confidence. So I think being able to fulfill different roles, depending on any given game, is my biggest thing – and kind of getting a better feel for what the game needs of me.

“Whether that’s being aggressive looking to score, whether that’s getting my teammates involved early, whether it’s just being a vocal leader. I think being more consistent in my leadership, I would say that’s been a big growth area for me this year.”

Steve Burton agreed with his youngest child on this. Before you dismiss Veronica’s dad as just another overzealous sports parent, yearning for his kid to shine, remember the family background: Steve played quarterback at Northwestern, Veronica’s mom Ginni was a standout swimmer at the school and Veronica’s grandfather, Ron Burton (Steve’s dad), spent six years in the NFL as a Patriots running back.

Also worth noting: Veronica’s two sisters played college basketball at Villanova and Lehigh and her brother was a quarterback at UCLA and Purdue.
Steve Burton also brings insight from his longtime role as sports director of WBZ-TV in Boston. So he sees the balance Veronica is trying to strike – knowing when to distribute the ball and when to look to score, recognizing that sometimes charging to the hoop is what’s best for the team.

She clearly understands this dynamic better now at 26 than she did at 13 or 14.

“I think her leadership really has grown this year,” Steve Burton said. “She made it not about her – it’s about helping others reach their potential. They have the culture on that team where everybody can rise together. …

“I’ve also seen her confidence grow tremendously. She first came into the league and her head was spinning. She came to the Valkyries, and I could see the confidence planted. Natalie watered it and it grew, and now Veronica wants to make sure the entire team’s confidence is growing.”

Burton has started each of Golden State’s 86 regular-season games in its two years. If last year’s playoffs are any indication, Burton can expect her workload to increase in the postseason: She averaged 35 minutes in two playoff games in 2025 (after logging 29.4 during the season), and responded by posting 13.5 points, 8 assists and 3.5 steals per game.

Last season’s breakout resulted in abundant honors (Most Improved Player, second-team all-defense, ninth in MVP voting) and stamped Burton as the face of the Valkyries, in some ways. She remains embedded as part of their core, though the franchise’s identity clearly is rooted in its vigorous defense, productive bench and boisterous home crowd.

Burton, meantime, keeps evolving – studying video to see how teams are defending her, staying poised as opponents try to pressure her into mistakes. She’s one of only four WNBA players with an assist-to-turnover ratio above 3-1, joined by Indiana reserve Tyasha Harris, Dallas reserve Maddy Siegrist and Toronto starter Julie Allemand.

Burton has chopped her turnover rate by about one-third from last season, down from 2.1 per game to 1.4.

“We turned the ball over way too much last year, so our No. 1 priority on offense is not giving the other team extra possessions,” Nakase said. “Veronica took full responsibility for that.”

Or, as Burton said, “I’ve always valued possessions, that’s something I’m aware of. But you also have to play aggressive, you have to play basketball. So I’m trying not to harp too much on that, because you can play a little reserved if you pay too much attention to it.”

Burton acknowledged her strength has always been getting downhill, then driving to the rim or kicking the ball out to a teammate. She figures the Valkyries have too many threats – five players averaging 8.8 points or more, seven averaging 7.1 or more – for foes to focus too heavily on her.

And this year, unlike last year, Golden State also has Williams. She’s a more natural scorer than Burton, more suited to playing in isolation – even if it took some coaxing for Williams to flex her offensive muscles after she joined the Valkyries.

That sounds vaguely reminiscent of a young Veronica Burton, learning to spread her wings.

“I think we’re very similar in how we view the game,” Burton said of Williams. “So I can tell when she’s feeling it and when maybe she’s second-guessing some things. So as much as I can build her up and instill confidence, pour life into her and all our teammates, that’s what I try to do.”

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This article originally published at Veronica Burton has been essential to Valkyries’ success. Will she deliver in the playoffs?.

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