The first WNBA end-of-season award was handed out Monday, with Golden State Valkyries point guard Veronica Burton being named the league's Most Improved Player.

Burton received 68 of 72 votes from a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters after being the only player on expansion Golden State to appear in all 44 games this season.

She was third in the league with 6.0 assists per game while averaging 11.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.1 steals in the best season of her four-year WNBA career.

After averaging 3.1 points, 1.4 boards, and 1.9 assists with the Connecticut Sun last season, Burton became the first player in WNBA history to increase her averages by at least five points, two rebounds, and two assists from one season to the next.

Veronica Burton of the @valkyries is your 2025 WNBA KIA Most Improved Player!

Burton embraced a new opportunity in Golden State, and went from 3.1 PPG, 1.4 RPG, 1.9 APG and 0.5 SPG a szn ago to averaging career-highs of 11.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 6.0 APG and 1.1 SPG 
#KIAMIP | @KIA pic.twitter.com/KQD6bCTpTk

— WNBA (@WNBA) September 15, 2025

Burton was the seventh overall pick of the 2022 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings and played two seasons with the club before being waived and joining the Sun in June 2024. She was then taken by the Valkyries with the third selection in the 2024 WNBA Expansion Draft.

With Burton leading the way, Golden State went 23-21 to set a record for most victories by an expansion team and become the first expansion club to advance to the play-offs in their debut season.

The eighth-seeded Valkyries opened their play-offs Sunday with a 101-72 loss to the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx.

Burton scored a team high-tying 14 points but committed seven of Golden State's 16 turnovers.

Game 2 of the best-of-three first-round series is scheduled for Wednesday at Golden State, with Game 3 – if necessary – in Minnesota on Friday.