The gut-punch of expansion drafts: ‘She’s the heart and soul’

Former Liberty Kayla Thornton leaves a legacy of grit and wins as she heads to the Golden State Valkyries

To fully grasp the warmth of Kayla Thornton’s spirit, one must speak to those around her, listen, and watch one million smiles unfurl. Let 2024 WNBA Finals MVP Jonquel Jones tell it.

“[Kayla is] someone that you want to be around,” said Jones. “Someone [who] has that energy that draws you in.”

Prompt a member of the title-winning New York Liberty to share their feelings on Thornton, and joy fills the air in an instant.

“I could talk about my girl all day,” said Kennedy Burke, sitting on the cushy courtside seats at Barclays Center following a team shootaround in late August. “I feel like I can be myself around her. She’s a person that I look up to, not only on the court but off the court. She’s been …”

It’s at this point that Burke’s sentence trails off, a gleeful laugh taking the place of her thoughtful words. In Burke’s direct line of vision stands Thornton, inevitably doing something that has induced a bout of giggles.

After a moment, Burke gathers herself and ties a bow on the sentiment.

“She’s been a consistent teammate and a consistent friend.”

Little anecdotes like these are now tinged with an undercurrent of sadness given the WNBA’s recent expansion draft.

On December 6th, it was announced that the Golden State Valkyries would be selecting Thornton from New York to join their startup ball club out west. Thornton was not among the six players protected by Liberty brass, and thus was eligible to become a member of the WNBA’s 13th team.

Expansion is all sunshine and upside until it stings you out of nowhere.

These are the moments that reframe our perspective as sports fans, grounding us in the reality that those we admire from our perches in the stands, though perhaps reminiscent of deities, are just like us. A job takes you to a new city, temporary goodbyes are exchanged, and a whole bundle of feelings bubble within.

As the calendar year winds to a close – one that saw Thornton and the Liberty deliver New York City its first professional basketball title since the Knicks reigned supreme in 1973 – it’s only right we acknowledge the legacy KT has authored in a metropolis that eats and breathes hoops.

Over the course of two seasons as a member of the Liberty, Thornton endeared herself to a devout, adoring fanbase. She embodied everything New York basketball fans look for in their folk heroes, players whose signature snapshots include a loose ball, a dive, and a celebratory roar. All grit, no games.

“She’s passionate,” said Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello. “She’s the heart and soul. People can feel the energy when she’s out there, how she lifts up her teammates. She just brings so much positivity in making sure that everyone’s ready.”

One particular play comes to mind in reminiscing upon the mark Thornton left in Liberty lore. Leading Chicago by seven midway through the fourth quarter in a mid-July game this past season, Sky guard Chennedy Carter intercepted a pass from Jones. At the exact moment Carter got her hands on the basketball, Thornton pivoted upcourt and hit the gas. Carter lofted a pass to teammate Lindsay Allen, who at the time was ahead of the play and a full stride ahead of Thornton. In what felt like a millisecond, Thornton closed the gap, zipping alongside Allen and whacking the ball out of Allen’s grasp, out of bounds.

Here’s where it gets really good, elevated in status from “just another Kayla Thornton hustle play” to “iconic Liberty moment.” Thornton’s momentum carried her past the baseline, where she hopped over the legs of a cameraman to avoid collision.

Perhaps shy to the outside world, Thornton’s penchant for the dramatic – her special ability to galvanize a crowd and a team as one – must not be underestimated.

Instead of hitting the breaks, Thornton continued jogging up the tunnel in which Liberty opponents exit and enter the court. Nearly out of television camera-sight by this point, Thornton turned around as if occupying a fashion-week runway, 17,758 frenzied onlookers (a then-Liberty record) in the palm of her hand.

As she re-entered the court, Thornton received the hero’s welcome she’d earned and deserved.

Chills.

“The way she did that - the whole thing,” recalled teammate Sabrina Ionescu days after the contest, “sometimes I just have to hold back laughing in the middle of the game because I’m trying to stay focused. I feel like the fans have completely embraced her and who she is and what she’s meant for this team. She’s probably one of the funniest people I’ve ever met, and the way that she plays, obviously she’s just fiery and tough.”

Over the years, “foes” of the highest regard have echoed these sentiments.

“I knew she was a dog before she got [to New York] because she made it really hard work for [my] Phoenix team,” mused Brondello, who helmed the Mercury from 2014 to 2021. “She’d just go at Diana [Taurasi] all the time. Diana hated playing against her. So I was like, ‘Yeah, we could use that.’”

Is there higher praise than a quip which reveals Diana Taurasi hated seeing you on the hardwood?

Thornton developed her basketball identity and began to understand who she was as a player at Irvin High School in El Paso, Texas. Playing one of Irvin’s biggest rivals, Thornton was tasked with guarding a significantly taller opponent.

“She was like 6’6” and I knew I wasn’t going to win the height battle,” remembered Thornton. “Just hustling. I think from there I just took on that identity.”

It’s carried through her entire career, proving a match made in heaven with Liberty faithful.

“I’m just competitive,” said Thornton. “I feed off the crowd. I feed off the sixth man. I feed off of hustle plays.

“I lead in that way and it just flows for everybody else once they see that.”

The basketball elements are necessary in certifying oneself as a key figure in the history of a franchise, but it’s the in-between moments that seem to resonate most emphatically.

I must circle back to Burke, who was Thornton’s bestie on the team.

(Don’t get it mistaken: Thornton forged profound relationships with just about everyone in the organization. She and a few other players formed different iterations of a Liberty book club. She helped lead prayer groups at Barclays. But as Thornton herself said in a singing manner, speaking of Burke, “that’s like my twiiiiin.”)

After practice or shootaround, Thornton and Burke might be seen – arms interlocked – skipping through the arena’s facilities. Or perhaps they were starring in content filmed for the team’s social media accounts (Papa John’s, KT? Really?!?). If one was conducting an interview scrum, the other would wait until media dispersed so they could go about their day in tandem.

Burke offered a special insight into the deeply genuine aspects of Thornton’s caring heart.

“Some days you don’t feel good,” she said. “You have days where you don’t want to be here sometimes, because everyone has their moods, you know? It’s a mental game and sometimes it can be tough, but I feel like KT, she’s always holding it down for me, she’s always there. I always text her when I’m down. She knows how to pick me back up.

“She brings out the best in me on and off the court. Every time I’m hard on myself, she’s always there to pick me up and say, ‘Hey God is always with you.’ She reminds me of that, which is really important because sometimes, times get tough. She always reminds me of the little things that matter.

“KT has really brought out that person that’s been hiding inside of me.”

At the end of the day, that’s the legacy Thornton leaves behind in Brooklyn: a person who made others feel seen, could be silly or serious depending on the moment, and rose to meet every occasion when the lights shone brightest. She won a WNBA championship on her birthday for crying out loud. How’s that for poetry?

Her presence will be as celebrated in Golden State as it’ll be sorely missed back east.

I’ll let Kennedy Burke close us out, because who better to sum up Kayla Thornton’s energy and impact?

“Wherever she goes, people are always going to smile and laugh. That’s the person that she is.”