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by | Dec 1, 2017

Kayla Thornton (born October 20, 1992) is an American professional basketball player for the New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). In college, Thornton played for the University of Texas at El Paso.[1][2]

Career

Thornton was El Paso's all-time leading scorer.[3] She led the team to a record 29 wins.[3]

Thornton was not selected in the 2014 WNBA draft. She signed with the Washington Mystics for the 2015 season and played in 10 games. She returned to the WNBA for the 2017 season, signing with the Dallas Wings. She spent six seasons in Dallas before being traded on January 16, 2023 to the New York Liberty in a three-team deal.[3][4][5]

Thornton is known for her defensive play, and her ability to guard players in any position.[3][6] In the WNBA off season, Thornton has played in Australia, Egypt, Israel, Italy, Puerto Rico, Russia and South Korea.[6]

Career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  RPG  Rebounds per game
 APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game  BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game
 TO  Turnovers per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 Bold  Career best ° League leader

WNBA

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2015 Washington 10 0 8.8 .333 .000 .667 2.1 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.5 2.2
2017 Dallas 34 1 17.2 .412 .279 .800 3.3 0.9 0.6 0.2 0.7 6.8
2018 Dallas 34 32 28.6 .447 .355 .860 4.0 1.8 1.0 0.4 1.1 9.2
2019 Dallas 27 25 30.4 .343 .272 .931 5.3 1.8 0.9 0.3 1.6 10.4
2020 Dallas 22 14 25.3 .429 .347 .875 5.1 0.8 0.9 0.2 1.1 7.3
2021 Dallas 31 25 27.6 .421 .349 .849 5.6 1.5 0.8 0.2 1.0 7.5
2022 Dallas 36 35 29.2 .471 .329 .829 5.9 1.8 1.1 0.6 1.2 8.0
2023 New York 40 0 17.3 .433 .313 .767 3.5 0.7 0.7 0.3 0.5 4.5
Career 7 years, 2 teams 234 132 24.0 .416 .321 .841 4.5 1.3 0.8 0.3 1.0 7.3

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG TO PPG
2017 Dallas 1 0 6.0 .000 .000 — 1.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
2018 Dallas 1 1 30.0 .571 .000 — 3.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 8.0
2021 Dallas 1 1 16.0 .000 .000 — 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
2022 Dallas 3 3 26.3 .526 .500 1.000 4.7 1.3 0.3 0.7 1.0 8.3
2023 New York 10 0 10.1 .444 .400 1.000 1.5 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.3 3.2
Career 5 years, 2 teams 16 5 14.5 .433 .357 1.000 2.2 0.5 0.1 0.3 0.4 4.1

College

Source[7]

Year Team GP Points FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2010-11 UTEP 30 210 42.8% 14.3% 67.8% 5.8 0.6 1.1 0.2 7.0
2011-12 UTEP 32 315 48.0% 38.1% 73.0% 7.3 0.9 1.1 0.4 9.8
2012-13 UTEP 32 491 41.0% 28.5% 70.5% 8.7 1.2 1.9 0.4 15.3
2013-14 UTEP 34 663 43.0% 27.7% 77.7% 10.1 2.0 2.6 1.0 19.5
Career 128 1679 43.3% 28.5% 73.6% 8.1 1.2 1.7 0.5 13.1

References

  1. ^ "Kayla Thornton". University of Texas at El Paso. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  2. ^ Bloomquist, Bret (May 17, 2018). "Ex-UTEP, Irvin basketball star Kayla Thornton set to open WNBA season with Dallas Wings". El Paso Times. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d Magliocchetti, Geoff (May 17, 2023). "Liberty 2023 Player Preview: Kayla Thornton". Sports Illustrated New York Knicks News, Analysis and More. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  4. ^ Fleurantin, Brian (2023-01-16). "New York Liberty acquire Jonquel Jones and Kayla Thornton in major trade". NetsDaily. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  5. ^ "New York Liberty Acquire Frontcourt Duo of Jonquel Jones and Kayla Thornton in Three-Team Deal". liberty.wnba.com. WNBA. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  6. ^ a b Fleurantin, Brian (February 22, 2023). "Kayla Thornton talks her career, the Liberty, and more on Pull-Up with Myles and Owen". NetsDaily. Retrieved 2023-06-21.
  7. ^ "NCAA Statistics". web1.ncaa.org. Retrieved 2021-05-26.