Kayla Thornton

Kayla Thornton: A Brief Biography

Kayla Thornton is a professional basketball player in the WNBA. She plays as a forward for the New York Liberty. Thornton’s basketball career started at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) where she holds the record for the most points scored by a Miner with 1,953 points. She went undrafted in the 2014 WNBA Draft but was signed by the Washington Mystics in 2015. Throughout her time at Thornton, she has been recognized as a great defender and a versatile player, as she can play in any position on the floor. She has also played in other countries such as Australia, Israel, and South Korea.

Thornton is also the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Champion of 2023, which she won as part of the New York Liberty. She is also the winner of the WKBL Championship in 2019, which is the Korean basketball league for women. She was also the MVP of this championship run and was also named the import player of the year in the same season in Korea. She is also a phenomenal defender as she won the Conference USA (CUSA) All-Defensive Team nomination twice in 2013 and 2014.

Kayla Thornton Early Life

Kayla Thornton was born in Germany on October 20th, 1992 to Lewis and Merteen Thornton. Her father was in the U.S. military, as a result, she was born in another country during one of their military services abroad. Later the family shifted to El Paso which is in Texas and most of her growing years were spent here. She grew up in a military family and this provided her with the discipline and the spirit that she would later on put into basketball.

Thornton studied at Irvin High School in El Paso. She scored 1,953 points and had 884 rebounds in her high school career and was awarded the 1-4A Female Athlete of the Year by the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame in the 2009-10 season. her high school results landed her a college basketball seat at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) where she continued to shine and break records; she is the all-time leading scorer for the Miners, as per the UTEP website.

Kayla Thornton Personal Life

Kayla Thornton grew up in a home which fostered discipline and faith. Merteen, her mother is a preacher while her father Lewis worked for the U.S. military thereby making Kayla a disciplined person, according to The Athletic. She was not drafted into the WNBA in 2014 and had to make it the hard way. She went to multiple workouts, and training camps and got cut multiple times before making it in the league, which shaped her character in a major way and demonstrates her ability to persevere. She credits this tough phase in her life to having enabled her to be a strong character, as per The Athletic.

She is married to Cal Campbell, son of the late country music star Glen Campbell. The couple got married in Hawaii on the 14th of May, 2021, as per Aceshowbiz. Their relationship blossomed while working together on the documentary “Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me,” where Kayla was a producer. The wedding ceremony was very small, where only relatives and close friends were invited.

Kayla Thornton Family Background

Kayla Thornton was born on the 20th of October in the year 1992 in Germany to parents Lewis and Merteen Thornton. Her father, Lewis, was in the U.S. military and her mother later became a pastor in Texas. The family then had to relocate to El Paso, Texas where the majority of her childhood was spent. She grew up in a military household which taught her discipline and perseverance which are vital for basketball. Her father also later became a deacon. She has two brothers but their names are not available in the public domain.

Kayla Thornton husband

Kayla Thornton is married to Cal Campbell. Campbell is the son of the late country music legend Glen Campbell. The couple got married in Hawaii on the 14th of May, 2021.

Cal Campbell, a musician and producer, met Kayla while working on the documentary “Glen Campbell: “I’ll Be Me,” a movie that tells the story of his father’s struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. They had a simple wedding ceremony with only eight people in attendance, which were family and friends only. The wedding was held on Lahaina’s Baby Beach where they said their vows and wore Tiffany & Co. wedding bands, according to People.

Kayla Thornton Social Media

Kayla Thornton is seen fairly often on social media, where she likes to post her life updates along with highlights of previous games. She has a following of roughly 10.9K followers on Instagram and has the handle @k_thornton6. She also has an X account with the handle @KBT_5Blessed.

Kayla Thornton Career Stats

Since her entry into the WNBA, Kayla Thornton has been a force to reckon with, especially in defence according to The Athletic. She played her first season in the WNBA for the Washington Mystics in 2015, but she blossomed with the Dallas Wings from 2017 to 2022. She is in the New York Liberty team, as of September 2024. Thornton set a career best of 20 points against the Phoenix Mercury on June 8, 2019, proving that she is not only a defensive player but also an offense player as well. During the final match against the Chicago Sky on August 18, 2020, Thornton scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to ensure the Wings’ place in the playoffs. The Wings won the game against the Los Angeles Sparks on July 5, 2021 thanks to Thornton who scored 18 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and provided 4 assists. Her season-wise stats are mentioned below:

Kayla Thornton Achievements

Kayla Thornton has had many memorable moments throughout her career, be it in her school, college or even in the WNBA. Mentioned below are some of her most notable achievements in her career, as of September 2024:

The All-Time Leading Scorer and Rebounder at high school

Before joining the team of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), Kayla Thornton was breaking records in Irvin High School, where she amassed a total of 1,953 points, and 884 rebounds, and became the career record holder in points for the school, a record she holds even today. She averaged 28 points and 10.3 rebounds per game in the high school.

UTEP achievements:

Thornton received the All-Conference USA second-team honours twice while in college in 2013 and 2013 and was also voted into the USA All-Defensive squad in 2013. She also holds the 2nd overall career double-double record at UTEP with 21 double-doubles, 3rd overall in rebounds with 688 rebounds and is 9th overall in scoring with a total of 1,016 points for the Miners.

2-time CUSA All-Defensive Team Selection (2013 and 2014)

Thornton made it to 2 CUSA All-Defensive teams in 2013 and 2014, because of her solid performance at the defensive end with 1.9 steals per game with 15.3 points per game in 2013 and a career-high 2.6 steals along with 19.5 points per game in the following year.

First-team All-CUSA (2014)

Thornton was nominated into the first team All-CUSA team in 2014 as a result of her career-high season stint in the last year of her college career.

WKBL Import Player of the Year (2019)

Kayla Thornton played for the Cheongju KB Stars from 2018 to 2020 in the Women’s Korean Basketball League (WKBL) and during this time she put on some great performances, which led her to win the WKBL Import Player of the Year.

WKBL Champion and MVP (2019)

Thornton also won a Championship in her tenure at the WKBL with the Cheongju KB Stars in 2019 and was also awarded the WKBL MVP award due to her contributions to the team which eventually helped them win the title in 2019.

WNBA Commissioner’s Cup (2023)

Thronton joined the New York Liberty in 2023 and helped them win the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup and averaged 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game, playing all 40 games in that season coming off the bench.

Key Playoff Performances

Thornton has been very useful for her teams during playoffs. She had a double-double against the Chicago Sky on August 18, 2020, which played a big role in the qualification to playoffs of the Dallas Wings.

Kayla Thornton contract

Kayla Thornton is on a 2-year, $220,000 contract with the New York Liberty as of September 2024. This contract includes an average annual salary of $111,000. In 2024, Thornton earns a base salary of $110,000 while carrying a cap hit of $110,000. Before this, she was on an extension deal with the Dallas Wings from 2021 to 2023, which was a 3-year, $305,956 deal and had an average annual salary of $101,985.