This might be an unpopular opinion, but if you ask me, the romantic conflict with Valerie should have been between Danny, Valerie, and Tucker, not Sam.
Sam's beef with Valerie shouldn't have been reduced to petty jealousy just because they were two girls into the same guy, especially when you have Tucker and his established envy towards Danny and desire to get a girlfriend right there.
Seriously, from a narrative standpoint, Danny developing a mutual crush on Valerie and acting on those feelings should have resulted in an argument between Danny and Tucker. Especially because, even if canon completely glossed over this fact, Danny dating Valerie in spite of her being a ghost huntress bent on killing his ghost half for good is pretty hypocritical of him. More so from Tucker's point of view.
Think about it.
During the first half of season 1, Valerie was introduced as Danny's new rival and Tucker's most serious crush.
With him being his most genuinely gentlemanly and selfless for her sake in Shades of Gray (even if it was crystal clear he also hoped Valerie would give him the time of day if he helped her out), to the point Tucker covered for her at Axiom Labs so her dad wouldn't get in even bigger trouble. A gesture that seemed to finally endear him to Valerie, after all.
And yet, come Life Lessons and beyond, Valerie barely acknowledges his existence. If my memory doesn't fail me, she only really addresses him once after Shades of Gray, when he asked her if she was feeling any better in Reign Storm.
Now, at no point am I trying to say that Val is morally obligated to return his affections. Of course not. If she doesn't feel that way about Tucker, then she just doesn't feel that way about him.
But Tucker is also entitled to his feelings and, all things considered, he should have felt very bitter and hurt over Danny dating Valerie. Not just because that's his unrequited crush, but because of the hypocrisy I mentioned earlier.
In Shades of Gray, Danny and Sam were rightfully angry at Tucker for knowingly spending time with Valerie even after she became a ghost hunter after Danny Phantom.
Danny: Great. My best friend has a crush on a ghost hunter. Sam: That's life. Well, your life, anyway. ---- Tucker: Hey guys, can we join you? Sam and Danny: No! --- Valerie: So, Tucker tells me your parents hunt ghosts. Danny: Did he now? What else did he tell you? [Glares at Tucker but he just smiles back.]
And yet, when Danny's the one with the crush on the person with a very heated and personal grudge against him, suddenly it's perfectly fine if he routinely risks his neck hanging out with her?
To add insult to injury, Valerie only hung out around Tucker to get information on ghosts, preferably from Danny, whose parents are ghost hunters and experts on them. In other words, while Valerie grew to be genuinely interested in Danny, she was only using Tucker for her own benefit.
No matter how you look at it, Tucker was dealt an extremely bad hand in all this. More so when you remember he was the one most interested in getting a girlfriend yet he ended up being the only one of the trio who ended the show single (because Danny and Sam started dating each other, but still).
All things considered, it makes much more sense if the conflict over Danny dating Val had been between him and Tucker than between Valerie and Sam.
Yeah, I get it. Romantic drama and jealousy is supposed to pay off when the main couple ends up together at last. However, objectively speaking, regardless of her feelings for Danny or her issues with jealousy, Sam didn't need to be jealous of Val to have beef with her.
@picturejasper20 once pointed out how it was a pity the show reduced Sam's issues with Valerie to mere jealousy when, in truth, there was so much more to it.
After all, by that point, Sam already had plenty of valid and legitimate grievances with her. Like the very real danger Danny was in if she ever found out about his secret and didn't take it well. Or the fact that she used to be a real piece of work back when she had money yet felt entitled to being welcomed into their group with open arms even though she never acknowledged her behaviour (at the very least, not aloud), let alone apologised for it.
I'm just saying. If they were going to pit the girls against each other either way, then at least do it over something deeper than a love triangle. Especially when your third main character has as many reasons as Sam to be jealous over Danny and Valerie's relationship, but his love life and his character in general were given much less focus.
