Championship experience is now woven into the roster at multiple positions.
On a Monday in April, the Golden State Valkyries made two moves that say something real about where this franchise thinks it's headed. They brought back Kayla Thornton, the forward who made history for them last season, and they added Kiah Stokes, a center who has won this league's championship three times over.
Thornton's return on a one-year deal is the easier story to tell. She is 33 years old and had the best season of her professional life in a Valkyries uniform. She averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds per game — both career highs — and scored in double figures in 18 of her 22 appearances. In June she was named Western Conference Player of the Week. By summer she was an All-Star, the first in franchise history and only the seventh undrafted player in the league's existence to earn that distinction. For a team that didn't exist two years ago, having a player reach that milestone in year one meant something.
General Manager Ohemaa Nyanin put it plainly: Thornton didn't just perform, she led. She stepped into a brand-new roster from the first day of camp and set a tone. Nyanin described her as bringing relentless work ethic and an unshakeable belief in the team — the kind of language front offices use when they mean it, not just when they're filling a press release.
Thornton came to Golden State through the 2024 WNBA Expansion Draft, selected from the New York Liberty, where she had just won a championship. She arrived already knowing what a winning locker room feels like. Now she's back to help build one.
Stokes is a different kind of addition. The 6-foot-3 center is signing a multi-year deal, which signals the Valkyries see her as more than a stopgap. Over a decade in the league, she has averaged 3.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting better than 48 percent from the field — numbers that reflect a player whose value lives on the defensive end and in the paint, not on a stat sheet. She has won three WNBA championships: one with the New York Liberty, who drafted her 11th overall in 2015, and two with the Las Vegas Aces.
That Las Vegas connection matters here. Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase was an assistant with the Aces during the years Stokes was there. They won championships together. Nyanin noted that Stokes already understands what Nakase is building and what it takes to get there. That shared language — the habits, the defensive schemes, the culture of expectation — doesn't have to be taught from scratch.
Stokes also arrives with an international résumé that few players can match. She is a EuroLeague champion and has won the Turkish Cup twice and the Turkish Super League four times with Fenerbahçe. Before her professional career, she won three NCAA titles at the University of Connecticut and was named the American Athletic Conference's Defensive Player of the Year in 2015. Defense has always been her calling card, and that's precisely what the Valkyries are paying for.
The third signing is Cate Reese, 26, who joins on a training camp contract. Reese spent last season in Poland's EuroCup competition, averaging 15.4 points and 10.6 rebounds across nine games for MB Zaglebie Sosnowiec. Before that, she posted 22.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game in Australia's North league. A five-year player at Arizona, she was a four-time All-Pac-12 honoree and landed on the 2023 Katrina McClain Award's top-ten list, which recognizes the country's best power forwards. She'll need to earn a roster spot, but the production she's shown overseas suggests she's capable of making that case.
Taken together, these three signings sketch the outline of a team that is no longer just trying to exist — it's trying to compete. Championship experience is now woven into the roster at multiple positions. The question the 2026 season will answer is whether that experience translates into wins.
Notable Quotes
Kayla became our first-ever All-Star and stepped up as a leader for a new roster from day one. She brings relentless work ethic and an unshakeable belief in this team.— Ohemaa Nyanin, Valkyries General Manager
Kiah has won three WNBA championships and was coached by Coach Nakase in Las Vegas — she understands what we are building here and what it takes to win.— Ohemaa Nyanin, Valkyries General Manager
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What does it actually mean for a two-year-old franchise to sign a three-time champion?
It means they're done being polite about their ambitions. You don't sign Kiah Stokes for her scoring average.
So it's more about what she represents than what she produces?
Partly. But she also fills a real need — a physical, experienced center who can defend the paint. The symbolism and the function happen to align.
The Nakase connection keeps coming up. How much does that actually matter?
More than people give it credit for. Defensive systems are built on trust and repetition. Stokes already knows how Nakase thinks. That's months of work you don't have to do.
Thornton's numbers were remarkable, but she only played 22 games. Is that a concern?
It's worth watching. But the Valkyries clearly decided the upside outweighs the risk, and they've seen her up close.
What's the significance of her being only the seventh undrafted All-Star in league history?
It tells you something about how she got here — through persistence, not pedigree. That tends to shape a player's relationship with the game in ways that matter in a locker room.
And Reese on a training camp deal — is that a real shot or a formality?
Her overseas numbers are legitimate. Twenty-two points a game in Australia isn't nothing. She'll have to prove it translates, but the opportunity is real.
What does Golden State look like now compared to where they started?
Like a team that has stopped introducing itself and started making an argument.