MIAMI — Brianna Stewart was selected last month in the WNBA's first expansion draft since 2008.
She knew the Liberty were in danger of losing a valuable part of their 2024 championship-winning team to the Golden State Valkyries.
After all, only six players from each team can be marked off-limits.
In New York's case, that meant being able to protect only one reserve player outside of the starting five.
Stewart's entire five-step grieving process played out on social media when Kayla Thornton was announced.
First, distrust.
“So-so,” Stewart wrote to X.
Then, anger.
“Ruby” [Stewart’s daughter] He'll get angry. ”
negotiation.
“We don’t even have a borough!!!!!!” Papa John’s? ! ? ”
After a brief bout of depression, acceptance began.
“They got it, KT, we love you,” Stewart wrote in the post.
For the first time since Thornton was drafted by the Valkyries, Stewart spoke Thursday about what Golden State has in the 6-foot-1 forward and what the Liberty are losing in the new 3-on-3 league Unrivaled. .
“I really tried to tweet my reaction in real time when we lost KT,” Stewart told the Post after the Unrivaled Team's practice. “She's a dog, she's a hard worker, and we're really happy that she's going to continue to be kind of the leader of our new franchise, but obviously we're sad to have lost her, because she's the kind of person we are. That was the key to winning, and she knew we were much better playing together than against each other.”
Thornton, 32, averaged 5.5 points and 2.6 rebounds per game on 35.7 percent shooting from deep for his second season in New York.
During the postseason, she averaged the second-highest minutes played among Liberty's reserves.
Thornton is one of three players the Valkyries have under contract for the 2025 season.
The other two are Kate Martin and Stephanie Talbot.
Martin, who is in his first year of Unrivaled, said he has not yet spoken to Thornton but is excited to have the championship-winning veteran lead Golden State in his first WNBA season.
“I definitely prefer being her teammate to playing against her,” Martin said. “She's a very solid player. She doesn't make too many mistakes. She's a really good defender. She's very strong, has a good shot, is a corner three specialist. But she's a little bit of everything. You want to have people like that on your team because she can, and she seems like a really good teammate.
“It's a really exciting time and I think it's a lot of fun to start something from scratch and work towards it.” [a] It’s a common goal,” Martin continued. “That's what being a team is all about…the best part of basketball is that camaraderie. So I'm really looking forward to getting there and meeting everyone and starting playing.”
