The New York Liberty have been one of the best teams in the WNBA this season and they're considered a championship favorite alongside the Las Vegas Aces. They retooled their roster in the offseason by adding All-Stars Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot to play alongside fellow All-Stars Sabrina Ionescu and Betnijah Laney. But amid the star power the Liberty have, perhaps their most underrated offseason acquisition was nabbing Kayla Thornton in the same trade that brought Jones to the Liberty. On Friday, the Liberty and Kayla Thornton agreed to a contract extension as per Richard Cohen of Her Hoop Stats.

https://x.com/richardcohen1/status/1697612500026503178?s=61&t=TZ_l9NemhwIAfOmcns4-kw

As per Cohen, Kayla Thornton's contract extension with the Liberty is for two years and is protected. It's worth $110,000 in the first year and $112,000 in the second year. Thornton was set to hit unrestricted free agency in the offseason.

She first broke into the WNBA in the 2015 season with the Washington Mystics as an undrafted free agent. She played six seasons with the Dallas Wings from 2017-2022 before the trade that brought her to the Liberty.

This season she has been one of the Liberty's most important players fitting in perfectly alongside the team's stars. She's played in 35 games this season all off the bench in about 17 minutes per game. She's averaging 4.7 points per game and 3.5 rebounds with splits of 44.4 percent shooting from the field, 32.4 percent shooting from the three-point line and 76.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

If the Liberty are to win the title this season, a big reason will be because of Thornton's play.