Sixteen months ago, Veronica Burton was out of the WNBA entirely. The former Northwestern Wildcat is now the league's Most Improved Player.
The WNBA announced on Monday that the Golden State Valkyries' point guard was the recipient of the 2025 Most Improved Player award, given to the athlete who takes the biggest leap in play from one year to the next. Burton received 68 of 72 first-place votes, winning the honor in a landslide over Azurá Stevens of the Sparks (two votes), Allisha Gray of the Dream (one vote) and Natisha Hiedeman of the Lynx (one vote).
Dallas waived Burton in May 2024 after she struggled to carve out a role, despite being the No. 7 overall draft pick by the Wings just two years prior. However, Burton stayed the course and eventually found herself as a key bench player with the Connecticut Sun. The Valkyries rewarded Burton's improved shooting splits in Connecticut by selecting her in the 2024 Expansion Draft.
The fourth-year guard's improvement this spring and summer was nothing short of remarkable. Burton started all 44 games for her new team, leading Golden State to a 23-21 record and a trip to the WNBA Playoffs. Under her leadership, the Valkyries set the record for wins by an expansion team and became the first expansion team to reach the postseason in its first year.
Burton achieved career-highs in nearly every statistical category in 2025, averaging 11.9 points, 6.0 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 0.6 blocks per game while shooting 38.7% from the field. Over 31 games with the Sun a season ago, Burton averaged just 3.1 points, 1.9 assists, 1.4 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 0.2 blocks per game on 36.1% shooting.
The massive improvement wasn't just because of her increased role, though. Burton's playing time did drastically increase from 12.7 minutes per game in Connecticut to 29.4 in Golden State, but she also became a more efficient shooter as she took more shots. The fourth-year guard's shooting percentage rose from 36.1% to 38.7% in 2025, despite attempting over six shots more per game. From beyond the arc, Burton's 35.1% shooting clip dipped slightly to 34.5%, but her volume from deep increased nearly fourfold.
Burton's shooting leap becomes even more impressive when factoring in the fact that she shot 29.4% from the field and 27.1% during her final season in Dallas two years ago. Her overall improvement was historic, as no other player in WNBA history had increased their averages by five points, two rebounds and two assists from one season to the next.
The 25-year-old guard also set a pair of league records. Against the Mercury on August 19, Burton posted 24 points, 14 rebounds and zero turnovers, becoming the first athlete in WNBA history to reach those numbers in a single game. She had three games with at least 10 assists and no turnovers in 2025, setting the league's single-season record.
Burton is one of the most accomplished players in Northwestern women's basketball history. VB12 brought the 'Cats to unprecedented success, including an 80-40 record from 2018 to 2022, a Big Ten Championship in 2019-20 and a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2021. She was widely respected as one of the best defenders in the country, earning a Third-Team All-American nod and the WBCA's Defensive Player of the Year award in 2022. Burton won the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award in each of her sophomore, junior and senior years.
Golden State, with Burton at the helm, is seeking to upset the No. 1-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the first round of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs. The Valkyries are down, 1-0 in a best-of-three format, after a 101-72 loss on Sunday in which Burton posted 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
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