Kate Martin’s growth with the Golden State Valkyries: Confidence and ball screens

Just over a third of the way into the 2025 campaign, Martin has seen a jump in almost every statistical offensive category compared to her rookie year for the Las Vegas Aces. She has nearly tripled her scoring average and already scored more total points this year than last year. Martin is also shooting a higher percentage from the field while taking double the number of shots. While she is playing more minutes per game this year, the amount isn’t a direct correlation to her statistical improvement.

So, what has allowed for this big growth for the second-year guard? Well, it has a lot to do with how she is being used on offense and the work she knew she needed to put in after her initial campaign.

“I think just being more comfortable out there, letting the game come to me,” Martin told The Next on what she felt she needed to improve on after her rookie season. “Pick and roll reads, I thought was something that was gonna be super important for me. Handling the ball a little bit, being able to relieve that pressure on the point guards, if needed. Then just being able to get downhill and be patient in the paint and finish with contact, because it’s a physical, physical league… I think I’ve improved a lot in those areas, but there’s always still room to grow.”

Last year in Las Vegas, Martin took a total of 88 shots. Of those 88 shots, only 26 were two-pointers, which accounted for 30% of her shots. This year, she has already taken 43 two-point shots, a 10% increase in those types of shots for her. In Las Vegas, Martin was asked to be a floor spacer and knock down open shots around the likes of A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray. This year, in an offense with a lot fewer superstars, the Valkyries are asking her to be a threat at every level.

The biggest area of the floor where Martin is taking more two-pointers this season is at the rim. According to Synergy, she attempted just 16 layups all of last season. This season, she’s already attempted 30 layups. She is also scoring better on those shots at the rim, nine points last year versus 24 points this year. Martin has been intentional about her rim attacks this. Whether that is in transition or attacking long closeouts, she is not hesitating and working well off her teammates to find moments to slash to the bucket.

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“It’s just the growth in her,” Valkyries guard Tiffany Hayes told reporters. “I think she’s definitely been working on her confidence a lot, and it shows in her game. Just really happy that everybody else is starting to see it, how great of a player she is. I think she’s been in the shadows of a lot of great people before, and she’s finally shining her own light and letting everybody see what a great player she is and you can see it already. I’m definitely loving her growth and how she is bringing that to our team.”

Another part of her game that has improved tremendously this year is her ability to score in transition. According to Synergy, Martin has scored 1.09 points per possession in transition this year compared to 0.77 last year, on fewer transition possessions, no less. You can see in transition this year, Martin has two things on her mind: either get to the rim or find space to shoot the three.

This season, you can see that when Martin runs the floor in transition, she is running to the wing. When she is able to get her feet set and catch and shoot in rhythm, her 3-pointer is deadly. It’s difficult to be running full speed and catch the ball, set your feet, and knock down a three, but it is something Martin has clearly worked on. In fact, if you watch her warmup before any game, she spends about five minutes taking those exact shots.

When she is the one with the ball in her hands, pushing the break, you can see a much more concerted effort by her to get to the rim. In the game against the Seattle Storm on June 29, Martin got a steal late in the first quarter and got a one-on-one attack against Skylar Diggins. She hesitated at the three-point line, attacked Diggins, using her body to create space and finish. This is just one example of how Martin has improved her strength and uses her size to move defenders and finish at the rim.

“Just reading the defense, if you’re shooting well, that opens up the paint a little bit more,” Martin said of her mindset when attacking the rim. “Being able to attack in transition has been really good for us as a team. Just being really physical, and knowing that I’ve gotten a lot stronger in the off-season, and so I can use my physicality and my body control to get some easy paint points. Whenever I get into the paint, that just opens up my threes even more.”

Martin has shown improvement in a lot of areas offensively this year, but the biggest area of growth has been her usage and ability to score out of pick and roll. Last year, according to Synergy, Martin took just four shots after using a ball screen. This season, she has taken 26 shots. Not only has she done it a lot more, but she has been incredibly good at it, scoring 1.00 points per possession when she comes off screens this season. According to Synergy, that is tied for the seventh highest PPP of any player who’s used at least 10 total ball screens this season.

When you watch the Valkyries on offense this year, you notice that as a team, they use a lot of ball screens. They also will have a variety of players setting ball screens and do a ton of different things off of them. Early this season, when it comes to Martin, a lot of opposing teams have been going under the screens she’s using, leaving her open to shoot the three behind the screen.

Midway through the fourth quarter on June 27 against the Chicago Sky, Martin got a ball screen in transition from Monique Billings. Ariel Atkins attempted to fight through the screen early, opening up space for Martin to get an open look from three and she hit it. This came just a few possessions after Martin had knocked down a three in transition to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

“All of her hard work in the off-season, it is now just kind of coming to life,” Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase told reporters. “She had a trainer who [worked] not only her basketball skills, but her physical skills. She was in the weight room, she was doing agility. She was always asking, ‘what should I work on?’ So again, just credit to her for just sacrificing her whole off-season and now you guys are seeing the results of everything that she did.”

Martin has made it clear this year that if teams are going to go under screens, she is going to shoot the three-ball. However, it isn’t just threes that Martin is attempting when she uses ball screens, she is finding her way to the rim as well. She has taken 16 two-pointers this year off of ball screens and all but three of those attempts have come at the rim. She is coming off screens aggressively, trying to get to the rim and finding success.

You saw Martin’s aggressiveness coming off a ball screen back on June 7 against the Aces. Late in the third, she came off a screen by Janelle Salaun. She got to the free-throw line, did a nice hesitation dribble to make former defensive player of the year A’ja Wilson stand up and blew right by her for an easy layup. She did it again Saturday evening, coming off a ball screen and beating reigning defensive player of the year Napheesa Collier to get to the rim. Martin has shown drastic improvement coming off ball screens, but she says what you do off a screen is highly dependent on how your opponent plays.

“If they go under, I’m gonna shoot it,” Martin said. “If they give me any type of space, if I feel like they’re not guarding me tight enough, then I’m always looking for my shot first. Then if that’s not there, if they go under, re-screen, and then getting downhill. You always want to attack downhill, get yourself open first, because that’ll open your teammate up… I’m looking for myself first, shot first, and then downhill and reading the defense from there.”

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Martin credits a lot of the growth she’s shown this year to the time she spent playing for the Laces in Unrivaled. She played with some great teammates in Miami and said the time playing three-on-three helped her see the game at a faster pace. She learned how to better attack her defender one-on-one, with two fewer defenders on the floor. She also improved her pick and roll reads, which has paid off handsomely so far this season, as well as how to read other quick-moving actions like dribble handoffs and give and go’s. 

Even with what she gained from Unrivaled, Martin feels the confidence she has received from Valkyries head coach Natalie Nakase and her staff has helped her even more. Martin came into Golden State as one of the few players who had previous experience with Nakase and it shows on both sides. Nakase has vehemently expressed her absolute trust in Martin. 

When Martin had a stretch where she shot 1-11 from 3-point range over a four-game stretch, Nakase argued that Martin wasn’t in a slump and knew she would find her groove again quickly. Nakase wasn’t wrong, as Martin knocked down nine of her next 23 triples over the following three games.

The growth Martin has shown in a short period of time has allowed her to impact the new franchise in a big way. She’s scored career highs and been a major factor in the Valkyries success so far this season. However, it’s the energy Martin gets from her coach that has allowed her to continue to push for new heights every single day. Without, Martin doesn’t know if she’d be where she is, helping the Golden State Valkyries compete night in and night out in their first WNBA season.

“I feel very grateful for our coaching staff,” Martin said. “Nat isn’t the type of coach that’s just gonna pull you if you miss one shot or make one mistake. She wants you to be intentional with everything you’re doing out on the court, giving 100% and she’s going to trust her players. She always wants us to let it fly. She always wants us to shoot it. She believes in us.

“She sees the work that we put in, and so she knows that you know if I miss or airball, she’s like ‘oh well, the next one’s going in.’ She really believes that and to be able to play for a coach like that, honestly, just instills so much confidence in myself and all my teammates.”

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