Golden State Valkyries receive terrible news amid special season
Photo by Scott Eklund/NBAE via Getty Images
Kayla Thornton, the Valkyries’ leading scorer and first-ever All-Star, is out for the season after undergoing right knee surgery.
It’s been a special year for the Golden State Valkyries, who currently sit just one game out of the playoff race and have exceeded expectations in their franchise’s inaugural season. But on Friday, the team announced some devastating news: Kayla Thornton, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, is out for the remainder of the season after undergoing knee surgery.
Thornton was in the midst of the best season of her WNBA career — and fresh off her first All-Star appearance at age 32 — when she injured her right knee in practice earlier this week.
Golden State Valkyries forward Kayla Thornton, who suffered an injury to her right knee earlier this week in practice, underwent a successful surgery earlier today in San Francisco.
Thornton will be out for the remainder of the 2025 WNBA season and will begin the rehabilitation… pic.twitter.com/DTOvTNCml6
The Valkyries did not share what exactly Thornton injured, but did write: “Thornton will be out for the remainder of the 2025 WNBA season and will begin the rehabilitation process immediately.”
Before her injury, Thornton averaged 14 points, 7 rebounds, and 1.3 steals — all team highs. She’s appeared in all 22 of the Valkyries games and recorded 15 points in last week’s All-Star game in Indianapolis.
Thorton was selected by the Valkyries in their expansion draft in December after being left unprotected by the New York Liberty, with whom she won a championship last year.
Who will step up in Kayla Thornton’s absence?
While her absence undoubtedly sets the Valkyries back, Golden State has been one of the most evenly balanced teams in the league. With Thornton sidelined, Tiffany Hayes (12.8 points per game), Veronica Burton (11 points), and Janelle Salaun (9.7 points) will likely all up their production.
Forwards Cecilia Zandalasini and Monique Billings, center Temi Fagbenle, and guards Kate Martin and Carla Leite could also all see increased opportunity.
Caitlin Clark OUT vs. Las Vegas as Indiana Fever provide injury update
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images
Caitlin Clark continues to rehab a groin injury as the star’s frustrating sophomore season continues.
Caitlin Clark entered the 2025 WNBA season with a lot of pressure on her shoulders. Of course, her name alone brings eyes to everything she touches — her team, the WNBA, women’s basketball as a whole. After a rookie season of record-breaking and the levelling up the Indiana did in the offseason, Clark’s Indiana Fever were expected to soar this season.
Instead, they’ve sputtered, and Clark’s repetitive injuries have been the source of frustration. It’s the fault of no one, especially not Clark, as injuries are an inevitable and unfortunate aspect of sports. Yet, the nature of the specific injuries Clark has had this year has meant there is no definite path for quick recovery.
That was the reminder provided by the Fever’s Thursday update on Clark, who was again ruled OUT for the team’s game against the Las Vegas Aces. The team announced that Clark had undergone further evaluation after she seemed to re-aggravate her groin injury last week and sat out of the team’s final game before the All-Star Break.
No additional damage or injury was found, which is good news.
Caitlin Clark underwent further medical evaluations earlier this week, which confirmed that no additional injuries or damage were discovered.
Clark will continue working with the medical team on her recovery and rehabilitation, with the priority on her long-term health and… pic.twitter.com/02RF3HVLJY
The “bad” news is that this makes recovery timelines murky. There’s nothing they can do except treat her pain and have her rest until she feels better. The Fever said just that, that Clark will continue her recovery with the team’s medical staff, with no timeline available for when she could re-enter the lineup.
Indiana also said that no further details will be released, and that updates will now be made as necessary. Basically, they said “stop asking about it.” They will likely only update now when Clark moves from rehabbing to conditioning and preparing to rejoin the team on the court. It could be days, weeks, or longer, as groin injuries are notoriously nagging and unpredictable.
What does this mean for the Indiana Fever? Well, as of Thursday morning, the team is in 7th place in the WNBA standings with a record of 12-12. They head into a very important game against the Las Vegas Aces on Thursday night, the results of which will likely have implications for the team’s final spot in the standings.
The Aces sit just half a game ahead of the Fever currently, and the two teams have had razor-thin margins between them all season. Whoever wins this game will have a one-game edge over the other, which could be huge when it comes to end-of-season standings. With both teams on that bubble of making the playoffs, having one game come between making the playoffs or not would be crushing.
Regardless of all these implications, thoughts continue to go back to Clark. It’s not normal to have the amount of pressure she has on her shoulders. People travel long distances and pay lots of money just to see her play, meaning that when she’s hurt, sometimes fans can overreact and be mean. The hope would be that neither Clark, as the competitor she is, nor the Fever, worried about these monetary implications, would try to rush her back onto the court before she is healed. Her long-term health is most important, and despite the pressure she may feel to please paying fans, to help her team win, and live up to the expectations placed on her, she needs to sit out as long as she needs to.
Athletes often say the mental aspect of injuries is worse than the physical pain they endure, and it wouldn’t be shocking if that was especially true for Clark. While rational observers understand that the WNBA will survive while she rests, many are outspoken (and, again, mean) about their belief in the opposite. As much as she is idolized, Clark’s injury struggles this year prove what people often forget — that she is a human being and not invincible. Hopefully, she gives herself the grace to remember that as well, and knows that she doesn’t need to rush back to prove otherwise.
NCAA women’s basketball tournament gets new selection metric: What is Wins Above Bubble?
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WAB will reward teams for playing against — and beating — good teams. It could help teams like Virginia Tech, who were left on the bubble last season.
When the NCAA Division I Selection Committee for the women’s basketball tournament meets this upcoming season, there will be a new metric that committee members consider when figuring out where to place squads in the 68-team bracket.
It’s called Wins Above Bubble — or simply WAB — and it’s been a popular metric used in the men’s game for a few years and was officially used by the men’s selection committee last season.
In a Her Hoop Stats newsletter from 2021, writer Calvin Wetzel laid out what the metric’s purposes are: “It answers the question, ‘How many more wins does Team A have than the number of wins a bubble team would be expected to have against the same schedule?’”
On its website, the NCAA explained the metric this way: “Wins Against Bubble calculates the expected winning percentage for an average bubble team in each game of a team’s schedule and then subtracts that total from the team’s actual number of wins. For example, if an average bubble team was expected to win 19 games against Team A’s schedule, but Team A won 20, it would have a +1.0 WAB rating. It’s the amount of wins you have minus the amount of wins an average bubble team would expect to have versus your schedule.”
In short, the metric will reward teams for playing against — and beating — good teams.
And it’s a metric that Jackie Carson, the ACC’s Senior Associate Commissioner for Women’s Basketball, supports.
Carson said she sat down with some members of the selection committee earlier this year after Virginia Tech was one the First Four Out of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
“What do we need to tell our schools? How do we need to schedule better? You know? So, I did a deep dive into that,” Carson told SB Nation this week.
The Hokies, under first-year head coach Megan Duffy, went 19-13 and 9-9 in ACC play this past season. They ranked 47th in NET, but had seven wins against teams that ranked in the top 100 in NET, which was more than Washington and Columbia and the same number as Princeton and Nebraska, all of whom received at-large bids to the tournament.
“I love (WAB), because I think that was a little bit of our argument,” Carson said. “We have to beat schools that we’re supposed to beat and we have to win games that we’re supposed to win, right? But I also think there’s something to be said about, if we lose to someone in the ACC, you’re still playing a stronger strength of schedule compared to someone else in a different league that is beating team (ranked) 275 (in NET). So, I love that there’s a new metric that rewards, you know, who are you playing? And what have they done?”
Virginia Tech had three wins against teams who made the NCAA Tournament during ACC play: Georgia Tech, Louisville and Cal.
“We had some fantastic wins, and then we had a couple that slipped away from us, and those are all learning experiences,” Duffy said earlier this month during a Zoom with reporters. “Expectations are high… With the group we have, we’re going to set our bar high. I don’t really honestly know or care what that means relative to the tournament or where we are in the league. We want to be at the top.”
With Virginia Tech left on the bubble, eight teams from the ACC made the NCAA Tournament last season. The Hokies bolstered their roster in the offseason, adding three transfers from fellow Power 4 programs in Sophie Swanson (Purdue), Melannie Daley (Northwestern) and Kilah Freelon (Texas Tech). Duffy also brings back her top two scorers from last season in Carleigh Wenzel and Carys Baker.
New talent combined with this new metric could help the Hokies get back in the big dance next season.
Luka Doncic made Marcus Smart a believer in joining the Lakers
A call came from Luka Doncic a couple of times, at first making Marcus Smart think it wasn’t true and then eventually making him believe that Doncic was a Lakers salesman and that he wanted Smart to be a part of what they were building here in Los Angeles.
It wasn’t like they had a strong “relationship,” but Smart said he and Doncic have “a mutual understanding and respect for each other” from meeting on the court in past seasons.
So, when the calls came while Smart was training while trying to figure out his next move after he had agreed to a contract buyout from the Washington Wizards, he was swayed by Doncic to join the Lakers after clearing waivers.
Smart, who signed a two-year deal for $11 million with the Lakers, with a player option for the second season, smiled as he told the stories during his introductory news conference Tuesday about talking to Doncic and being persuaded to join him and LeBron James.
“It first came, my agent, I’m working out, and I get a call from my agent saying, you know, ‘Hey Luka reached out.’ And I’m like ‘yeah whatever’ you know?’ Like all right,” Smart said at the Lakers’ practice facility. “And then another day, same thing — Luka reached out again and now it’s real. It’s no longer what-ifs. It’s real and it’s something we need to talk about. And that was a great feeling, like I said, and that’s kind of what kind of got things going for me to be here and I’m excited to be here.”
The Lakers were in need of a point-of-attack perimeter defender such as Smart, especially with Dorian Finney-Smith going to Houston.
Smart was the NBA’s defensive player of the year in 2022 when he played for the Boston Celtics and has been on the NBA’s All-Defensive first team three times.
Knowing that Doncic and James are “two greats with [the] greatest basketball IQs that I’ve ever seen in this era” made it easy for Smart to become their teammates.
“And when you get a guy like Luka, calling, referencing, checking on you, trying to see where you at to see if you want to come and join something special that he’s trying to cook up over here,” Smart said. “And for him to say that he can really use my help, that meant a lot. Played against Luka a lot. Been on a lot of opposing ends of Luka magic. And to be able to come out and be on his side at this time, it means a lot.”
Doncic has a decision to make with the Lakers.
On Aug. 2, Doncic and the Lakers can talk about a contract extension.
He can sign a four-year deal for $224 million or a three-year deal for $161 million with a player option in 2028, which would then allow Doncic to sign a max deal in 2028 that would give him 35% of the salary cap for that season.
Meanwhile, Smart was asked what kind of recruiter is Doncic.
“It’s the same. He’s a competitor. He’s just the same way. He has that competitive nature when he’s talking,” Smart said. “He’s intrigued and that’s it. He didn’t really have to say much. Luka, his name, his ability, what he has done, [speaks] for himself. And for me, like I said, I’ve been on the other end of Luka magic. So to be able to come and join and see it and witness it on the other side is something that I was like, ‘why not give it a shot?’”
Wizards guard Marcus Smart (36) drives against Pistons forward Simone Fontecchio during a game last season. (Duane Burleson / Associated Press)
Smart, 31, played in only 54 games the last two seasons, injuries costing him time that he spent both with the Memphis Grizzlies and Wizards. In the 34 games he played between both teams, Smart averaged 9.0 points, 2.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and shot 34.8% from three-point range.
“Yeah, I’m very motivated. You know, the last two years, for me, was in my eyes, a disappointment,” Smart said. “Injuries kind of stopped me and held me back. But like I told my wife and my family, you know, everything happens for a reason. And it’s funny that 12 years ago, I could have been here [with the Lakers] and now it’s full circle and I’m here. And like I said, everything happens for a reason. And I just look at those reasons was for me to be here, to not play for people to look at me and say, ‘you know what, maybe he isn’t the same?’ And now that allows me to be in a place where I’m supposed to be.”
Smart was at his best with the Celtics, where he spent nine years and reached the playoffs every year, including reaching the NBA Finals in 2022.
Over the course of his 11 seasons in the NBA, Smart averaged 10.6 points per game, 3.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists.
The Lakers were 50-32 last season, but lost in the first round of the playoffs.
But he knows the Lakers are about winning championships and the chance to play with Doncic and James in high-stakes basketball games played a part in his decision as well.
“It’s at the top,” Smart said. “I mean, the main goal, the reason you go out and you compete the way you compete is to try to win championships and what better place to be able to do that than here, where the show starts and where the show ends. So, that was definitely a big part of it, being able to get back on that stage, being able to get to a team that definitely could use me and I know I can make an impact and I can help as well and that was a perfect fit here.”
Andre Iguodala Quietly Became Full-Time NBPA Boss After 3 Months
Andre Iguodala is now the full-time executive director of the NBPA, having quietly shed his interim tag last year without any formal announcement from the union.
Iguodala became “acting executive director” in late 2023, replacing Tamika Tremaglio following her dismissal from the NBPA. At the time, it appeared Iguodala would hold the role until a permanent successor took over—Sportico’s story on his appointment called it “temporary”—but that changed over the course of his first three months on the job.
In February 2024, according to someone familiar with the matter, the NBPA’s executive committee and board of player reps, which includes members of all 30 teams, voted to make Iguodala’s position more permanent with a new multiyear contract. There was no formal process that included any outside candidates, said the person, who was granted anonymity because the process was not public.
The union did not publicize Iguodala’s new status or his contract. The word “acting” was removed from Iguodala’s bio on the union website at some point in between Feb. 19 and March 1 of 2024, according to a review of cached pages. The NBPA used the new, shorter title—without the word “acting”—in a press release in August.
Iguodala’s salary is set by the union’s player reps. He was paid $2.8 million in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2024, according to the NBPA’s LM-2 filing, with $2.09 million of that in gross salary.
A union rep declined to comment on the specifics of the process or his contract. Iguodala, currently in Spain for a week-long offseason performance retreat for players, also declined to comment.
Iguodala made $185.2 million in salary across his 19-year NBA career, according to Spotrac. He was a four-time NBA champion, and was MVP of the Finals in 2015 with the Golden State Warriors. As a player he served for more than a decade on the NBPA’s executive committee, including a four-year term as first vice president from 2019-2023.
He has been an active investor as well, both as a player and after retiring, including venture and early-stage investments in Coinbase, Allbirds, Zoom, DataDog and Dapper Labs, which has partnered with both the union and the league on its Top Shot NFT product. He is co-founder and managing partner of Mosaic, a $200 million venture capital firm; Mosaic’s portfolio includes Athletes First, an agency primarily representing NFL players.
Iguodala is a minority owner in NWSL franchise Bay FC, English soccer club Leeds United and the TGL franchise in San Francisco. He invested in the latter two teams alongside other active NBA players, including Russell Westbrook, Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Larry Nance Jr. and T.J. McConnell. Iguodala disclosed all of his necessary investments as part of his transition to becoming executive director, the source said.
Iguodala has kept a low profile since assuming the acting position in 2023—a contrast to Tremaglio. He doesn’t do many formal interviews or speaking events in his capacity with the union, nor does he show up often in union press releases. His official status at the union has continued to create confusion in news reports for more than a year after the “acting” label was removed.
He has, however, reshaped the union’s leadership over the past year. In February the NBPA hired David Kelly, then the chief legal officer of the Golden State Warriors, to be the union’s managing director. It’s common for sports unions to be led by executives with legal experience, and Kelly, who also serves as the union’s general counsel, now heads the union’s legal efforts as a supplement to Iguodala’s leadership.
Kelly is one of a handful of union leaders to have joined under Iguodala’s tenure. Others include chief people officer Michelle Crenshaw, chief financial officer Cameron Jones, EVP for player operations Morgan Cato, and VP of brand communications Jacinda Ortiz.
The NBA’s current CBA, which took effect in 2023, runs through the 2029-30 season.
Lonnie Walker IV has agreed to sign with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Walker has an NBA buyout clause in his contract until August 1st and will be one of the highest-paid players in Europe.
Walker was with the Boston Celtics for preseason in 2024-25 before signing with Zalgiris. Walker then joined the Philadelphia 76ers on a two-year, $3 million deal in February.
Walker averaged 12.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 23.8 minutes across 20 games for the Sixers.
Walker, who is represented by George Langberg, was the 18th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft out of Miami by the San Antonio Spurs.
