The first two awards for the season were announced by the league after the regular season concluded and the Valkyries got plenty of good news when Veronica Burton was named Most Improved Player and Natalie Nakase was named Defensive Player of the Year. The end of the announcement schedule ended up being delayed, but Golden State team president Jess Smith was given the Business Executive Leadership Award today as the last award. Other players had also gotten recognitions in some of the recent announcements as well.
Other Recognitions
The MVP ballot gives voters the ability to rank their top five candidates and the full results were announced. A’ja Wilson won the award after another tremendous year in Las Vegas, but Veronica Burton did get one vote for fifth place for her year.
The next award announced was the one for Sportsmanship and Kayla Thornton tied for third place with Napheesa Collier, receiving seven votes apiece as Nneka Oguwumike won with eighteen total votes.
The Valkyries were close to winning another major award, but Ohemaa Nyanin ended up finishing in second place for Basketball Executive of the Year. Given how well the team performed after she had to put it together from scratch, there had certainly been a belief that she would win. Atlanta’s Dan Padover also had a strong year at general manager with a coach hiring, two free agent moves, and making later two draft picks that stuck with the team to end up winning the award instead.
Janelle Salaun was named to the All-Rookie Team after successfully choosing a team where she could make an immediate impact after finally getting strong interest from the league. Given that the rest of the team consisted of the first four picks in the draft, it was quite an honor for her to join them after going undrafted back in 2021.
Veronica Burton received one more honor when she was selected to the All-Defensive Second Team. On a team where defense was a primary focus, her history in that area made her a natural candidate to be a leader on that end. The league does not have positional divisions for these teams, so it was notable that she was the only true guard among the ten players selected.
Business Executive Leadership Award
Even before all of the great basketball decisions that led to a memorable debut season, the Valkyries ownership group made a big decision to hire Jess Smith as their first team president. Without only a few recent WNBA expansions or relocations to lean on for an example, the team decided to hire the person who had overseen a major business success for an expansion soccer team after Angel City’s entrance into the NWSL.
League leadership voted for Smith to win the award and it was easy to see why after the team was able to convert the early interest into a record season ticket holder count while selling out every game, setting a record for attendance in the process. The team was also a model for sponsorships as the league as a whole is ready to reach another level on the business side. Launching a team also included major decisions when it came to broadcasting, branding, and the mascot. The team’s program with Kaiser Permanente that led to donations for every jersey sold was also cited. This was the first year of the award and it would have truly been difficult to make a case for anyone besides her to receive it.
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