Valkyries @ Sun preview: We miss Veronica Burton, too

There was plenty going on last winter with the Connecticut Sun, especially with personnel moves, so it was easy to miss December’s expansion draft, which saw the Golden State Valkyries grab Veronica Burton from the Sun.

There was little fanfare for Burton’s departure, but her stats don’t show how valuable she was to Connecticut last season (3.1 points per game), particularly on the defensive end, where she was - along with DiJonai Carrington - counted on to shut down opposing guards.

And with everything getting out of Uncasville, why couldn’t Connecticut protect Burton, who is from and has plenty of ties to Boston?

The WNBA does not make its protected lists public, which is a bit annoying, but most have extrapolated the six players they kept were: Alyssa Thomas (to trade), Carrington (to unfortunately trade), Ty Harris, Marina Mabrey, Leila Lacan, and Olivia Nelson-Ododa. If they had to do it again, they might leave Harris or even Mabrey available and dare Golden State to take them, but the final decision seemed to come down to Nelson-Ododa or Burton. Taking Nelson-Ododa is completely understandable at that point, it is much harder to find productive centers and - as Rachid Meziane has even mentioned recently - she has a lot of room to improve if she can get better on the offensive end. 

Veronica Burton defending Caitlin Clark in last season's playoffs.
(Joe Buglewicz / Getty Images)

But it feels like another miss from the Sun front office to have let Burton go, especially when she’s now averaging 10.7 points, 5.3 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game (not even taking into account her status as an elite defender) for the wildly successful expansion Valkyries, who sit eight (?!?) games ahead of the Sun heading into Burton’s return on Sunday. With all due respect, she is outperforming Jacy Sheldon and Lindsay Allen, for sure, and although Bria Hartley’s scoring is much better, Burton is a much better defender.

Which leads us to whom the Sun might protect in this round of expansion, which will be complicated by the new collective bargaining agreement when it happens. Lacan, Saniya Rivers, Aneesah Morrow, and Nelson-Ododa are obvious picks, and with Mabrey and Charles unrestricted free agents, it’s likely to be Sheldon and Rayah Marshall to round out the list when the season ends, but there are so many questions to be answered before then that it’s probably not worth discussing much further than that.

For now, we can give Burton - who is coming off a miserable shooting night Friday in a win over Dallas, but still had nine rebounds and big defensive plays - a nice welcome back and hope the Sun can score on the Valkyries, easier said than done for most of their expansion campaign? 

What else can we look for as the Sun look to post a victory in the first of a back-to-back (both at home) on Sunday afternoon?:

 

GOLDEN STATE VALKYRIES @ SUN

Time: Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT

Place: Mohegan Sun Arena; Uncasville, Conn.

Records: Golden State 11-12; Connecticut 3-20

TV: CBS Sports Network

Line: Golden State -6.5 

Absences: Golden State - Kayla Thornton (out, season-ending knee); Monique Billings (out, ankle).

Connecticut - Rayah Marshall (questionable, illness).

 

History between them: Golden State obliterated the Sun last month in San Francisco, leading by 27 at the half and holding Connecticut to just 30.3% shooting from the field. That was the first meeting, so there’s not much history at all. Other than the Los Angeles Sparks, the only other WNBA team to ever call California home were the Sacramento Monarchs, who won the 2005 WNBA title over the Sun, led by Yolanda Griffith. Taj McWilliams-Franklin, Nykesha Sales, and Lindsay Whalen led Connecticut.

What to look for: It was very unfortunate news for Golden State that Kayla Thornton is now out for the season with a knee injury, but they were able to fight off a rag-tag bunch of Dallas Wings 86-76 Friday night, succeeding where the Sun have not this season, making big plays down the stretch to win as they’ve done several times. As I pointed out before the first meeting, Golden State has a clear identity under Natalie Nakase, and that’s to play physical, strong defense (fourth in the WNBA in defensive efficiency), contesting shots (second behind Minnesota in defensive FG%), and not giving up second chances (second behind Atlanta in defensive rebounding). These are largely hustle stats, and things that we would have hoped the Sun would be much better at this season, but it hasn’t happened.

None of that seems to bode well for the Sun’s offense, but Golden State has not been great (10th) offensively, especially when they don’t hit three-pointers, because they take the most in the W by far, but are 12th (30.8%) shooting them, ahead of only - you guessed it - Connecticut (29.4%). The Valkyries also haven’t been quite as effective on the road, having lost five of six, and while it won’t be a back-to-back, are facing a cross-country flight after Friday’s night game for an early start Sunday against what should be a fairly rested Sun team. So there’s really no excuses? 

Key players:  Golden State: Cecilia Zandalasini-  Zandalasini, who showed some of her shooting ability last year with Minnesota, got her third start of the season Friday in Thornton’s absence. It sometimes is difficult for Zandalasini to create her own shot, but she is shooting 40% from behind the arc after hitting 44.3% last season, so she’s certainly someone to keep an eye on.

Connecticut: Marina Mabrey - Mabrey was more of a liability than anything in her first game back Thursday, which is to be a bit expected, but the big problem was on the defensive end, where her struggles helped allow Los Angeles to seemingly score at will. Her offensive numbers for 2025 right now are quite ugly across the board, even free throw rate, which is just .184 (still ahead of Jacy Sheldon’s .129). It’s not all on her, obviously, but they need her to bust out in a big way in games like this.

Advanced stat:  53.2%, 70.7%, .279 - Defensive eFG%, rebounding %, and free throw rate, respectively for the Connecticut Sun, all dead last in the WNBA, and that’s how you put together one of the worst seasons in WNBA history if it continues.

Tactical spotlight: Golden State plays the most zone in the WNBA, by far, and that’s been particularly effective against poor shooting Connecticut this season. It led to a big Valkyries run in the second quarter of the first meeting and we can only hope the Sun spent the last few days practicing against zone, but they’ll have to make shots. That should set up well for someone like Sheldon or Hartley, but we shall see.

Without Thornton, Tiffany Hayes and Janelle Salaun took bigger roles on Friday night and both like to take a bunch of shots, which could play into the Sun’s hands if they go cold, but they also have to rebound misses, the Valkyries had a few big offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter to finally put the game away. Golden State plays at the slowest pace in the league behind Minnesota, so the game shouldn’t be as fast as it was against Los Angeles 

Inside the numbers: 6 - Minutes for Migna Toure on Thursday, so it was hard to get a read on what her role might be with the Sun, but we’ll see if she gets more of a run Sunday.

Prediction: 78-66 Golden State