Jonquel Jones thanked the Connecticut Sun and their fan base in a tweet Monday, after the three-team trade sending her to the New York Liberty was officially announced.

Since Connecticut traded for her rights on draft night in 2016, Jones had spent her entire career with the Sun. She led the team to two WNBA Finals appearances in 2019 and 2022 while winning the 2021 WNBA MVP award and being named to four All-Star teams.

Jones, who had one year left on her contract with the Sun, acknowledged the reports that she requested the trade to the Liberty after meeting with multiple teams.

“I have done amazing things in my career, all while proudly wearing Connecticut across my chest. Now, like all things, our journey together must come to an end,” she wrote.

“After careful thought and consideration I have decided to move on and begin the next chapter of my W career.”

🧡🧡 Thank You Connecticut 🧡🧡 pic.twitter.com/NlTjM6J6Dx

— Jonquel Jones (@jus242) January 16, 2023

As part of the trade, Connecticut received New York’s No. 6 pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft, veteran guard Rebecca Allen and fourth-year guard Tyasha Harris. The Dallas Wings received three-time WNBA champion Natasha Howard and the contract rights to guard Crystal Dangerfield, while the Liberty also picked up forward Kayla Thornton from the Wings.

Jones led the Sun in 2022 with 14.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. The 6-foot-6 forward had spent her entire tenure in Connecticut playing for coach Curt Miller, who left in October to become the head coach of the Los Angeles Sparks. The Sun hired Stephanie White to replace him.

In New York, Jones joins a promising contender led by WNBA champion head coach Sandy Brondello and former No. 1 draft pick Sabrina Ionescu. Free agent and New York native Breanna Stewart has also been linked to the Liberty after she met with the team last offseason. Players can officially begin negotiating with teams on Jan. 21.

The Sun weren’t done this week, trading veteran guard Jasmine Thomas and the No. 10 pick in the 2023 draft to the Sparks on Monday in exchange for Olivia Nelson-Ododa, Jasmine Walker and the contract rights to Kianna Smith. In L.A., Thomas will reunite with Miller, while Jones embarks on a fresh start with the Liberty.

“Please know that Connecticut will always have a special place in my heart and that I am forever grateful for my time as a member of such a great organization,” Jones concluded her post.

Tennis fans saw an epic battle on Monday, as world No. 39 Emma Raducanu forced No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka into a third-set tiebreak in the third round of the 2025 Cincinnati Open.

The British 22-year-old, who burst into the sport's upper echelons by winning the 2021 US Open as an unseeded teenage qualifier, came achingly close to ousting the top-ranked three-time Grand Slam winner in a match that required more than three hours and two tie-breaks to resolve.

"She's world No. 1 for a reason, and I pushed her more than I did at Wimbledon so that's an improvement," said Raducanu, ultimately falling to the 2024 Cincinnati Open winner in Monday's narrow 7-6 (3), 4-6, 7-6 (5) loss.

Clearly affected by the oppressive humidity of the southern Ohio summer, Sabalenka took risks in the match's late stages to offset her 72 unforced errors and her diminishing energy.

"At the end, I went for crazy shots," Sabalenka told the crowd following the 2025 US Open tune-up match. "I think that it was a little bit risky from me and it really helped to put a lot of pressure on her."

Along with Sabalenka, this week's Round of 16 will feature at least four other Top-10 contenders, as 2025 Australian Open victor No. 6 Madison Keys and Kazakhstan's No. 10 Elena Rybakina booked their own Round of 32 wins on Monday, while 2025 French Open champion No. 2 Coco Gauff and 2025 Wimbledon winner No. 3 Iga Świątek enjoyed extra rest as their third-round opponents withdrew due to illness and injury on Tuesday.

Hoping to join the Gauff and Keys's advancing US contingent are No. 4 Jessica Pegula and No. 35 Ashlyn Krueger, who will face Poland's No. 40 Magda Linette and Italy's No. 9 Jasmine Paolini, respectively, on Tuesday.

How to watch the Cincinnati Open

Tennis's best will keep battling for Cincy's trophy — and an edge going into the season's final Grand Slam — this week: The third round will wrap on Tuesday before the Round of 16 kicks off on Wednesday.

Live coverage of the 2025 Cincinnati Open will continue airing on the Tennis Channel.

Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark is feeling the pressure, joining retired WNBA legend Sue Bird on last Friday's podcast to discuss the impact of her recent spat of injuries on league attendance and viewership.

"That's definitely been hard," Clark told Bird about having to ride the bench. "I'm going to go to every road game no matter what, whether I'm playing or not. It's hard because obviously I do feel this responsibility of being out there and playing."

"I sign autographs for way longer when I'm hurt than when I'm active," Clark told Bird, referencing her outsized popularity. "That's never something I wish for, but I still want to make as much time as I can for people."

In total, Clark has missed 19 of the No. 5 Fever's 32 regular-season games — plus this year's Indianapolis-based All-Star Game — as she manages three separate muscle injuries.

Before her injuries, Indiana's 2025 season opener pit Clark against fellow WNBA sophomore Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky earned what is still this year's highest viewership, with 2.7 million people tuning in on May 17th.

Since then, all three rematches have seen the regional rivals face off without one or both of their popular 2024 draft picks.

Despite star absences, however, ratings are up across all WNBA teams, with national networks averaging 794,000 viewers per game through July — a 21% increase over 2024's full-season average.

The mysterious large purple egg stashed inside the Bay Area's Chase Center has hatched, revealing the first-ever mascot for the Golden State Valkyries: a bespectacled raven named Violet.

Violet made her official mascot debut during the No. 7 Valkyries' 74-57 Monday win over the No. 13 Connecticut Sun, with the Golden State crowd welcoming her by singing "Happy Birthday."

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"Ravens are commonly known as Valkyries' helpful and savvy counterparts in Norse mythology," the 2025 WNBA expansion team wrote in Tuesday's press materials, also noting that "because she is near-sighted, she sports gold glasses helping her achieve the excellent eyesight that ravens are known to have."

Nicknamed "Vi," Violet will bring "crucial knowledge [from her daily flights] back for the leaders of Ballhalla to use in battle."

Violet will now join other mascots in the league's spotlight, with teams seeing significant success from the popularity of WNBA-specific characters — sparked by the 2021 debut of New York Liberty icon Ellie the Elephant.

"The cultural phenomenon that Ellie has become today definitely exceeded our expectations," Liberty chief brand officer Shana Stephenson told Andscape last season. "She's become such an integral part of our game-day experience that the energy and atmosphere within our game I don't think would be the same without Ellie."

Chicago has also undergone a mascot revamp recently, replacing the team's old Sky Guy mascot with Skye the Lioness last year.

How to catch Violet the Raven at Golden State

Fans hoping to meet the Valks' new mascot will have a shot on Sunday, when Golden State returns from this week's road trip to host the No. 3 Atlanta Dream in the Chase Center at 8:30 PM ET, airing live on NBA TV.

Currently on a five-game losing streak, the No. 12 Dallas Wings — and star rookie Paige Bueckers — are trusting the process, hunting an upset as they take on the No. 5 Indiana Fever on Tuesday night.

"I think we have a really good young core, we have great pieces to build around, good complementary pieces," Bueckers told reporters on Sunday. "We're all really excited that the front office has doubled down on who we have here right now. I think that's what we're gonna build around."

"We've talked about it enough," the 2025 No. 1 overall draftee continued. "We need to put action behind our words."

First-year Dallas head coach Chris Koclanes has taken much of the heat for the Wings' skid, exiting the court to fans chanting "We want Nola" — a plea for assistant coach Nola Henry to take over the team.

"Stepping into this leadership role, [I'm] being challenged to step outside of character at times and when to hold people accountable in different ways and when to discipline in different ways, so I'm learning," said Koclanes, whose role with the Wings is also his first-ever stint as a head coach — at any level of the game.

"You know we didn't start the season off well, we're not playing how we should be playing. But we need the fans to support us," Dallas forward Myisha Hines-Allen said, directly addressing upset fans after the Wings' Friday loss to the No. 2 New York Liberty.

"At the end of the day, Chris is still our head coach. We still need him."

How to watch the Dallas Wings vs. Indiana Fever on Tuesday

The No. 12 Wings head to Indiana to take on the No. 5 Fever at 7:30 PM ET on Tuesday, airing live on ESPN.