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SAN FRANCISCO — Heading into their first game back from the All-Star break, the Golden State Valkyries had one thing on their minds: “Win for KT.” And just hours after the team announced All-Star Kayla Thornton would miss the rest of the season with a right knee injury, the Valkyries took down the Dallas Wings 86-76.
It was a much-needed win to uplift the “devastating” loss both Natalie Nakase and Kate Martin described in regards to Thornton's season-ending injury. In a game that Nakase characterized as a team win, the Valkyries had five players reach double figures. Led by Janelle Salaün's team-high 16 points, seven rebounds, and three steals in 34 minutes, Golden State weathered a rocky first half.
Beyond Golden State's team-wide rally in the absence of Thornton, their 11th win of the season was full of several overlapping storylines, all of which have heavy implications for the Valkyries in the second half of the 2025 WNBA season. With that in mind, here are three big takeaways from the Valkyries' first win after Thornton's season-ending knee injury.
Something is brewing with the Valkyries' “French New Wave” lineup
The French New Wave? The French Dispatch? The Three Musketeers? Whatever nickname they land on, the Valkyries finally had the opportunity to play Salaün, Carla Leite, and Iliana Rupert, all three of their French national players, at the same time. And it was very successful. The trio helped Golden State get back into the game in the third quarter. They combined for 24 of the Valkyries' 33 third-quarter points, taking the lead from Dallas by the end of the period.
Rupert was the one who first got the Valkyries humming with her inside-outside offensive abilities. After the game, Salaün credited Rupert for her seamless transition into the team after Rupert missed the first half of the season being overseas.
Janelle Salaün on Iliana Rupert’s Golden State Valkyries debut:
“Since we were 15 we’ve been playing together a lot… She has impact inside the paint and I think we need that kind of stuff. Balance between outside and inside. She brings that pretty well.” pic.twitter.com/jFnL7GXKtl
— Kenzo Fukuda (@kenzofuku) July 26, 2025
“We've known each other for a while now, since we were like 15 [years old] probably,” Salaün said about her 2025 Eurobasket teammate. “She can shoot the ball, and I think that's our identity. She can also impact inside the paint and I think we need that kind of stuff. Balance between outside and inside. She brings that pretty well.”
Rupert finished with nine points and five rebounds in her Valkyries debut. On the other side of the Valkyries' French three headed hydra, Carla Leite finished with 14 points off the bench. It was the most Leite scored since returning from a nagging back injury, a good sight for both her and her coach.
“It was nice to see Carla attacking the gaps, which she's really great at. And then her just putting on a smile and she's chest-bumping. I mean, that's the Carla that we love. And so it was nice to see.”
The turnovers must cease…
The passing and ball security were abysmal for both teams, but more so for the Valkyries. Golden State finished with 17 turnovers, which Dallas converted to 20 points off turnovers. There were sequences in which the basketball kept ping-ponging back and forth from the Wings to the Valkyries and back to the Wings, and vice versa. The Valkyries will lose games like this to better teams. They already have to teams like the Minnesota Lynx and the Phoenix Mercury.
Luckily, they found a way to overcome the turnover problem. After the game, Nakase explained how the Valkyries reduced their turnovers in the second half by simply settling down their collective nerves.
“We just relaxed. I thought we were a little anxious. We haven't played, you know, all [All-Star] break, obviously. It kind of takes you a little bit out of rhythm and we haven't been here at Ballhalla, in front of our fans. So I thought we were a little anxious, a little nervous, which is good.”
Nakase also cited the communication between the point guards, which was her point of emphasis moving forward without Thornton.
“A lot better,” Nakase said on the team's communication without Thornton. “We talked about too, just with the point guards, Vee [Burton], Carla, and Kaitlyn, we had a couple of meetings this week to organize what we want to run. I thought they did a hell of a job of keeping everyone in line. I don't think we had any empty possessions when that just means, we just go down and we don't run anything. So I was very proud of our leadership from the point guard position.”
Turnovers are one of the Achilles heels of the Valkyries, so if they want to stay afloat without Thornton, it starts with minimizing the turnovers.
Nakase has a lot of experimentation to do without Thornton
While the Valkyries secured a much-needed win against Dallas, it wasn't pretty. While the Leite-Salaün-Rupert trio sparked a third-quarter avalanche, Golden State has some serious problems to address. Without Thornton, the Valkyries didn't have the high IQ connector intangibles she always brings when she's on the floor. That led to some noticeable missteps on their defensive rotations, as well as some stagnation on offense.
And like most of the Valkyries' games this season, that meant a lot of experimenting from Nakase on the lineups. The Valkyries tried Cecilia Zandalasini in the frontcourt with Salaün and Temi Fagbenle. They tried some spot minutes with Kaitlyn Chen to not much of a positive or a negative, as well as some Laeticia Amihere minutes to no success. Amihere was a -10 plus/minus which made Nakase turn to the new arrival in Rupert.
This isn't even mentioning the fact that Nakase implied they were load managing Kate Martin after she was asked why she did not play. The point being, the Wings aren't a great team, and they gave the Valkyries a major scare for the majority of the game. Going into this road trip, Nakase's going to have to get really creative with her lineups, lineups that likely won't have a lot of minutes together from before to lean on.
Losing Thornton means losing the lynchpin to everything the Valkyries want to do. She had the most minutes on the floor out of everyone on the roster.
“I guess it's the first time we've ever not had KT. She's always been starting for us, playing heavy minutes. This was a nice team win,” Nakase said somberly. “Like we mentioned prior, though. This was for KT. We talked about it pregame. So KT, if you're listening, this game was for you. We miss you and we love you. I thought everyone stepped up. We talked about doing a little bit more because we were going to miss her.”
