One month into the WNBA season, every team has played at least 10 games. The Las Vegas Aces, Connecticut Sun and Chicago Sky have established themselves as the top three teams in the league, while others are still building chemistry and consistency.

The Phoenix Mercury finally moved back into the win column after a seven-game losing streak, their first since 2012. In their win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday, they played one of their most complete games of the season with balanced scoring, good defense and teamwork on offense.

The Seattle Storm suffered a two-game skid at the tail end of their eight-game homestand behind a tough shooting night against Dallas and a Connecticut comeback win on Sunday. The Storm, now 5-5, have been dealing with rotational inconsistencies as more players miss games due to COVID-19 protocols.

Here are my biggest takeaways from the past week in the WNBA.

Connecticut Sun grinding out wins

Connecticut went on the road last week and won three games in four days during a tough West Coast swing against the Aces, Mercury and Storm. The Sun dropped their first game of the week to the Las Vegas Aces without head coach Curt Miller on the sidelines, but then bounced back to hand the Aces just their second loss of the season.

By 4:15 a.m. the next morning, the Sun were en route to the airport to catch the first flight from Las Vegas to Phoenix to take on the Mercury later that night. Facing a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter, Connecticut stormed back in unbelievable fashion to hand the Mercury their seventh consecutive loss.

On Sunday, the Sun ended their road swing up in Seattle, where they outscored Seattle 32-19 in the fourth quarter to overcome a 13-point first-half deficit and win 93-86.

At 9-3, Connecticut sits in second place in the league standings behind Las Vegas. While their wins haven’t all been pretty, the team is digging deep and finding ways to claw back into games by getting defensive stops. The Sun have displayed a toughness and belief in each other that are lifting them to results despite difficult circumstances.

While Alyssa Thomas continues to serve as the Sun’s anchor, reigning MVP Jonquel Jones elevated her play last week, going from averaging 13 to 23 points per game and shooting 68 percent from the field in their last three contests. Brionna Jones, with her consistency on offense and defensive work on the glass, is the X-Factor for the Sun, having finished with a season-high 21 points against the Storm. The Jones-to-Jones connection has proved to be a serious matchup problem for opponents.

Jonquel Jones’ impact extends beyond her ability to score and rebound the basketball. Jones finished with a career-high six assists against Seattle, showcasing her elite vision and pinpoint passing ability.

Here is an underneath, out-of-bounds play the Sun executed well to give them a nine-point lead over Seattle late in the game. In this set, Jonquel Jones and Brionna Jones screen to a cutting DeWanna Bonner. Brionna Jones then screens for Jonquel as she cuts to the ball. The Storm have difficulty communicating on their switches, resulting in an open Jones-to-Jones layup.

The play is a great example of how well the Sun share the basketball and execute late to win games.

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Kelsey Plum in early MVP conversation

The Aces have three legitimate MVP-caliber candidates on their roster based on what we have seen so far from A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum. In my last column, I analyzed the efficient and confident play of Young. This week, I turn my attention to Plum.

The sixth-year guard scored a career-high 32 points in the Aces’ win over the Wings on Sunday, playing all 40 minutes and elevating her play while Young was sidelined with an ankle injury. Plum currently leads the Aces and is second in the league with 20 points per game, she’s third in the league with six assists per game, and she leads the potent Aces offense in 3-point shooting efficiency, averaging 45 percent on the season.

What’s even more impressive is her stamina. With the ball in her hands most of the time, she initiates Las Vegas’ offense at a fast pace and does not seem to run out of gas, playing 77 minutes in the last two games over a four-day stretch.

Plum, 27, is hitting her stride and seems to be realizing her full potential. What felt like a breakout 2021 campaign for Plum after she recovered from an Achilles injury was simply a warmup for this season, as she is posting the best numbers of her career in nearly every statistical category.

2019 vs. 2021 vs. 2022 Stats

Minutes: 25.5 — 25.5 — 33.3
Scoring: 8.6 — 14.8 — 19.8
FG %: 36.5 — 43.7 — 44.8
3-point %: 35.7 — 38.6 — 46.0
Assists: 3.0 — 3.6 — 6.0
Rebounds: 2.8 — 2.5 — 3.5

Plum is the perfect fit for coach Becky Hammon’s high-paced style of play, which emphasizes more possessions, shot attempts and the green light to take virtually any 3-point look that comes available.

Not only is Plum efficiently putting up big-time scoring numbers, but she’s also shown an improved ability to create for her teammates. She’s currently fourth in the league with six assists per game behind Courtney Vandersloot, Natasha Cloud and Sue Bird — not bad company for a guard who averaged 3.6 assists per game last season.

Plum is pushing in transition with her head up, able to hit teammates running the floor, like to Dearica Hamby on this play.

She is attacking off the dribble and getting herself into the paint, where she is forcing two to three defenders to collapse on her and kicking it out to open teammates, like in the example below.

Sabrina Ionescu thrives as Liberty take steps forward

While their late-game comeback against the Minnesota Lynx fell short on Sunday, the Liberty picked up wins over the Indiana Fever and Washington Mystics and showed they can be competitive.

Sabrina Ionescu has begun to hit her stride, as her scoring has increased from 12.6 points per game at the start of the season to 23 points per game in the Liberty’s last three contests. The 5-foot-11 guard has had the chance to play off the ball more in recent games, allowing her to expend less energy and flow more naturally on offense. With more time on the floor, she’s getting herself to the free-throw line and hunting perimeter shots with more frequency than she was at the start of the season.

Just over two weeks ago, the Liberty signed Crystal Dangerfield to a hardship contract after DiDi Richards and Jocelyn Willoughby were ruled out indefinitely with injuries. Dangerfield, a true point guard and primary ball-handler, takes some of the load off of Ionescu, and it’s clearly helping.

While the Liberty remain last in the league in scoring at 72.8 points per game, they increased their output to 79.3 points per game in their last three outings — largely because of Ionescu’s production. Going forward, New York will need to find more consistent second and third scoring options. With third-leading scorer Betnijah Laney out for the next eight weeks while recovering from knee surgery, New York will rely on Natasha Howard, Sami Whitcomb and potentially Han Xu for more production.

Week 5 Power Rankings

  1. Connecticut Sun (9-3) +1
  2. Las Vegas Aces (10-2) -1
  3. Chicago Sky (7-3) —
  4. Atlanta Dream (7-4) +3
  5. Seattle Storm (5-5) —
  6. Washington Mystics (7-5) -2
  7. Dallas Wings (6-5) -1
  8. Los Angeles Sparks (5-7) +2
  9. Minnesota Lynx (3-8) —
  10. Phoenix Mercury (3-8) -2
  11. New York Liberty (3-8) —
  12. Indiana Fever (3-10) —

Rachel Galligan is a basketball analyst at Just Women’s Sports. A former professional basketball player and collegiate coach, she also contributes to Winsidr. Follow Rachel on Twitter @RachGall.

Connecticut Sun forward Jonquel Jones has no plans to stop playing overseas, despite the safety concerns that have arisen amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking with ESPN, the 2021 WNBA MVP says the money available abroad is simply too much to pass up.

“I’m going to have to deal with it,” Jones said of playing abroad. “Because I feel like while the [WNBA] is making the right and necessary strides to pay us more and ensure that if we don’t want to go overseas, we don’t have to, I just feel like in my situation, the money is not comparable. I have to think about the financial status of my family and everybody else, and also the opportunities that I’m leaving if I don’t go.”

Jones reportedly signed a two-year deal during the offseason with an annual average salary of $208,075. But her WNBA salary pales in comparison to her payday abroad. What she makes in a season in the WNBA, she makes in a month in Russia, ESPN reported.

Jones competed with UMMC Ekaterinburg of the Russian League before the war forced the 28-year-old to leave the country. She exited Russia and landed in Turkey on March 2, telling her Twitter followers, “That situation was way more stressful than I realized.”

“We’re really in a bubble in a sense,” Jones told ESPN of playing internationally. “But I never questioned my safety. Even when I lived in China, when I lived in Korea, I never felt like I wasn’t safe. So the war was the first time I really felt like, ‘Wow, like this is a new situation, unprecedented type of situation.'”

The potential safety concerns that come with playing abroad in a country like Russia have been emphasized by Brittney Griner’s detainment. The Phoenix Mercury center has been in custody in Russia since February.

“I’ve been looking at these pictures that I have on my phone, the last set of pictures I took with her we were going to Valencia or wherever. We were all just joking and laughing around and stuff, and it’s just crazy how fast things can change,” Jones tells ESPN of her time with Griner, revealing to the outlet that she has been in contact with Griner’s wife.

Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale says she has also been enticed to go aboard for money, sharing her experience leaving Russia amid the war on The Players’ Pod with Kelley O’Hara. While the 25-year-old is compelled to earn a lucrative salary with her WBC Dynamo Kursk team, she says she might stay stateside this upcoming offseason.

“I think the biggest part is just building my brand more, because at the end of the day, the WNBA is four or five months and we are overseas for like seven months, and obviously there isn’t a lot of visibility over there,” Ogunbowale said. “Plus women’s sports is excelling right now, so it’s a great time to build your brand and be here and be visible.”

The need for many players to go abroad for money has been a sticking point in the WNBA, with many athletes calling for substantial change to compensation to rectify the overseas exodus.

“I would say probably when I’m leaving the league, players probably won’t have to do it, players of my caliber who are going to make that top dollar overseas, they’ll have the options to stay here and make the same money,” Jones said. “But I don’t think I’ll see it in my career. I hope so.”

Jonquel Jones opened up about the state of women’s basketball in a post to her Twitter account Friday.

“It’s all a popularity contest and politics in wbb. In mbb [men’s basketball] you just gottah be the best,” wrote Jones. “In wbb you gottah be the best player, best looking, most marketable, most IG followers, just to sit at the endorsement table. Thank God for overseas because my bag would’ve been fumbled.”

Jones is the reigning WNBA MVP, having averaged 19.4 points and 11.2 rebounds on the 2021 regular season. The 28-year-old will reportedly bring in a base salary of $205,000 for the 2022 season while playing for the Connecticut Sun.

Jones is currently playing in Russia for UMMC Ekaterinburg. It’s her fourth season with the EuroLeague powerhouse.

The Sun are finalizing a multi-year deal with Jonquel Jones to bring the reigning MVP back to Connecticut, sources tell Just Women’s Sports.

The Sun took the first step toward re-signing Jones two weeks ago, when they placed the core designation on her with the offer of a one-year, $228,094 supermax deal. The multi-year deal she plans to sign with Connecticut is less than the supermax, according to sources, giving the team more cap space to work with in free agency.

Jones’ decision to return to the Sun is crucial for a team looking to build off of their 26-6 regular season record in 2021 and win their first championship. The 6-foot-6 forward piled up the accolades last season — WNBA MVP, All-WNBA First Team, third All-Star appearance — after leading the Sun with 19.4 points per game and the league with 11.2 rebounds per game. She also improved her long-range shooting, making 36.2 percent of her 3-point shots on a career-high 4.3 attempts per game (and nearly winning the 3-Point Contest at the All-Star Game).

Jones has spent her entire career in Connecticut after the Sun acquired her rights from the Los Angeles Sparks at the 2016 WNBA Draft. The Sparks selected her No. 6 overall before trading her to the Sun in exchange for Chelsea Gray and two draft picks.

Securing Jones, 28, to a long-term deal and building the core around her has been Sun head coach and GM Curt Miller’s vision for the team since before the 2020 season. After Jones sat out of the 2020 bubble season and Alyssa Thomas missed most of last season while recovering from an Achilles injury, Miller should finally be able to realize those plans.

With Jones locked in for 2022 alongside the core of DeWanna Bonner, Alyssa Thomas and Jasmine Thomas, Brionna Jones and Natisha Hiedeman, the Sun can turn their attention to re-signing Briann January or looking for point guard help elsewhere in free agency.

Rachel Galligan is a basketball analyst at Just Women’s Sports. A former professional basketball player and collegiate coach, she also contributes to Winsidr. Follow Rachel on Twitter @RachGall.

Syracuse native Breanna Stewart’s on-court resume is so stacked, it’s hard even for basketball insiders to fully absorb it. The two-time WNBA champion and two-time Finals MVP has won arguably every prestigious championship and MVP honor available in her sport, from four national titles in a row at UConn to a EuroLeague Championship and MVP award in Russia to two Olympic gold medals, not to mention all of her WNBA accolades.

Given all she has accomplished, we can smile and nod when, in a recent interview for Just Women’s Sports, Stewart says, “I’m 27, so I’m getting a little old now.” It’s even more understandable given the fact she has a 4-month-old infant at home with wife and fellow pro baller Marta Xargay.

Despite feeling a bit beyond her years, Stewart has her sights set on more WNBA championships.

“To be able to say that I’ve won twice already in six years, and I didn’t play one season is kind of crazy,” she says. “I believe that I’m going to have more moments to win more rings, but I’m just making sure that I don’t lose sight of what I have done and then continue to want to do more.”

And she is well aware of the amount of work it will continue to take to win more rings.

“I think everybody has to have a little bit of crazy in them when they’re at this level, and a little bit of obsessiveness to want to work out, and want to be in the gym, and want to do things that nobody else would want to do,” Stewart says. “But that’s how you get to where you are.”

While she no doubt has “a little bit of crazy” when it comes to working on her personal game, Stewart has always had a sound, mature perspective of her place in the bigger picture. She cares deeply about the success of the women’s game as a whole and many other social causes.

Upon graduating from UConn, Stewart was awarded the ESPY for Best Female Athlete and used her 60-second acceptance speech, by far the biggest platform she’d ever been given, to call out the media for its lack of attention to the WNBA. There’s no doubt her popularity and unbelievable talent on the court have been significant factors in the growth the W has had in recent years. And she’s happy to acknowledge the improvements she’s seen since winning that ESPY in 2016.

“I think the women’s game is in a really great place right now. I think that we’re continuing to trend upward as far as what we’re doing, how we’re perceived by media, how we’re gaining attention,” she says. “Media outlet companies are getting behind women, it seems like, at a much faster rate than they were probably 5 to 10 years ago.”

She also likes what she sees in the next generation of players, specifically fellow UConn Husky Paige Bueckers, who was off to a strong encore to her historic National Player of the Year freshman season before injuring her knee and having surgery performed last week.

“Her future is super, super bright,” Stewart says of Bueckers. “She has so much potential. She’s already doing great things now, but she’s at the right place to want to continue to be the best because Coach Auriemma is not going to treat her any different than anybody else.”

While she sees much to be optimistic about, Stewart also knows there’s still a long way to go. A recent source of frustration for her has been the low-key fanfare for 2021 WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones, who’s clearly one of the best players on the planet but hasn’t been given the media attention that comes with it.

“She won MVP and I still don’t think she got the props or the flowers that she deserves. I think people need to realize that and appreciate her game for being 6-6, 6-7, able to shoot the 3, handle it, play in the post,” Stewart says of her versatile on-court adversary.

The fact that fans still can’t get a pre-printed Jonquel Jones jersey from the WNBA Store is just the latest example of long-standing frustration with the lack of quantity, variety and accessibility of WNBA merchandise, something the league is hoping to remedy with its new partnership with DICK’s Sporting Goods (on whose site Jones’ jersey was stocked and ready to ship at the time of writing).

“The fact that she won MVP, she deserves more than what she’s getting. That’s for sure,” says Stewart.

As a player who knows the value of fan engagement in helping to grow the game, Stewart is often at the forefront of enhancing that connection. She’s got her signature shoe with Puma coming out in 2022. Most recently, she’s teamed up with Brandon Steiner, CEO of CollectibleXchange, as a feature athlete for The Collective Marketplace, an online platform that sells memorabilia and merchandise for athletes exclusively in women’s sports.

In teaming up with The Collective Marketplace, Stewart has opened a whole new pathway for fans to connect with her. She has nearly 200 personally worn and autographed items available for sale on the site taken directly from her own closet.

“I think it’s a great way to engage with the fans,” Stewart says. “I had all of these sneakers and jerseys and practice things … You keep them all because they’re amazing. But now you’re able to have them be reachable and, I guess, accessible to fans. And fans are able to really have a different type of relationship than just a player-fan relationship.”

Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi have also joined The Collective Marketplace. Stewart says of Taurasi, her WNBA rival and USA Basketball teammate, “I’d much rather be on the court with D, playing with her than against her. She’s just a killer, super competitive, obviously can hit the 3 like no other. Her IQ is off the charts.”

Just like Taurasi did for many years, Stewart is contracted to play overseas in Russia this winter with a stacked UMMC Ekaterinburg team. But her participation in the 2021-22 EuroLeague season is up in the air as she’s currently recovering from a minor surgery that repaired and reinforced the left Achilles tendon she injured late in the WNBA season (not the same one she ruptured in 2019). The decision for her to miss the Storm’s final two regular season games and their playoff showdown against Taurasi and the Mercury all but guaranteed Seattle wouldn’t repeat as league champions after winning it all in 2020.

Heading into what’s expected to be a wild 2022 WNBA free agency period, Stewart is one of four former league MVPs who are unrestricted free agents this offseason: Jonquel Jones, Sylvia Fowles and Tina Charles are the other three. With Bird still undecided about returning and Jewell Loyd entering restricted free agency, there is a lot up in the air for Seattle this offseason. But it’s impossible to imagine a scenario where the Storm don’t fight tooth and nail to keep their franchise player, and without making an official announcement, Stewart revealed she’s not envisioning playing anywhere else next year.

“We’re just going to take it one step at a time, see where my leg is at. And if I can play [in Russia], then maybe I’ll play. If not, I’ll make sure I’m ready for the Storm season — or the WNBA season,” she says.

An unplanned WNBA offseason at home in the states could be a blessing for Stewart to fully rehab while venturing into parenthood with her wife and baby daughter. And while her offseason routine and off-court home life may be quite different this year, her laser focus to succeed on the court is as strong as ever.

“I think it’s just coming with the preparation, the understanding of what it takes to win and making sure that when I’m out on the court, I’m not wasting my time or anyone else’s,” Stewart says of sustaining her peak level of performance.

“I feel as a basketball player, your goal should always be winning. When you step on the court, you should always be focused on winning.”

(Editor’s note: The Collective Marketplace on Athlete Direct is a sponsor of Just Women’s Sports)

Tessa Nichols is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports.

Jonquel Jones is not missing a beat overseas.

The Connecticut Sun forward showed why she was named the 2021 WNBA MVP during the EuroBasket Qualifiers on Thursday, recording 44 points and 22 rebounds for Bosnia and Herzegovina in their 87-81 win over Belgium.

The performance came in the first round of qualifications for the 2023 European Championship. Bosnia and Herzegovina are currently tied in Group C with Belgium and Slovenia.

Jones finished the WNBA season ranked fourth with 19.4 points per game and first with 11.2 rebounds per game. The Sun, seeded No. 1 in the WNBA playoffs, made it to the semifinals before falling to the eventual champion Chicago Sky in four games.

WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones headlines the 2021 All-WNBA First Team, unanimously selected with 245 points.

Jones joins Phoenix Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, Phoenix center Brittney Griner, Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart and Seattle guard Jewell Loyd on the 2021 All-WNBA First Team.

This year’s honor marks Loyd and Jones’ inaugural First-Team selection, while Stewart has been awarded four times, Diggins-Smith five, and Griner six.

The 2021 All-WNBA Second Team, announced alongside the First Team on Friday, features Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson, Minnesota Lynx center Sylvia Fowles, Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale, Washington Mystics forward Tina Charles, and Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot.

Voting for the All-WNBA Teams was conducted at the end of the regular season.

Connecticut Sun forward Jonquel Jones is the 2021 WNBA MVP, having earned 48 of 49 first-place votes.

Jones was a force for the Connecticut Sun this year, leading the league in rebounds (11.2 RPG) and ending fourth in points (19.4 PPG). She scored at least 20 points in 12 of 27 games, as well as a career-high 31 points versus the New York Liberty on June 5 and again at Washington on Aug. 31.

Having had quite the journey, she becomes the first WNBA player to ever win Most Improved Player (2017), Sportswoman of the Year (2018) and MVP (2021).

Additionally, Jones won the WNBA Peak Performer Award as the league’s top rebounder for the third time in five seasons.

As part of winning MVP, Jones will receive $15,450 and a specially designed trophy by Tiffany & Co.

Jones also was named Just Women’s Sports’ MVP.

Let’s get right to it: Whether you look at the small picture or the big picture, what Jonquel Jones has achieved in her career, and especially in this MVP-caliber season, is mindblowing.

We can call the “small picture” what she does on the court, where the 6-foot-6 forward combines a mix of strength, touch, determination and elite skills to average 19.4 points (on a buttery mix of post moves, fadeaways and face-up 3-pointers to the tune of 1.5 triples a game), 1.3 blocks and a WNBA-leading 11.2 rebounds per game. Jones is the unquestioned leader of this year’s powerhouse team, the Connecticut Sun, who led the league during the regular season with a 26-6 record and begin their playoff run this week in the semifinals against the Chicago Sky.

Jones compares her game most directly to former NBA MVP Kevin Durant, and he enthusiastically co-signs the match even if he’s not nearly the rebounder Jones is. While the achievements themselves may not be quite unprecedented (a few past MVPs have posted similarly impressive statistical seasons), the way Jones plays inside and out has arguably never been seen before.

The “big picture” would be where this unbelievable talent came from before unleashing herself on the WNBA: a country (The Bahamas) with a negligible history in the sport, and then a college (George Washington University) with a decent history of team success in hoops but an equally negligible history of actually producing WNBA players, let alone the best player in the league.

And what was that path? While it’s been shared over the years, it’s a story worth retelling because, MVP favorite or not, we’re talking about a player who was nowhere to be found on the WNBA’s top-selling jersey list and has a small social-media presence. It stands to reason that this undercoverage is related to fans’ lack of awareness, because once you grasp Jonquel Jones’ story … it’s impossible not to, well, like, follow and share.

“I’m so proud of her,” gushes Diane Richardson, Jones’ high school coach and temporary legal guardian. We’re chatting over the phone in mid-September, the day after Jones’ Sun whomped the Liberty 98-69. “She called me after the game like she always does to review the tape. I told her I hadn’t watched the game yet, but I’d call her once I did. So I did, and we talked about where and how she’s getting double-teamed, her positioning, stuff like that.”

This was after a 30-point win.

How’d we get here? As essential as Richardson, now the head coach at Towson University, is to most phases of Jones’ life in basketball, the story begins before high school, of course.

Jones was born in 1994 in Freeport, the second-biggest city in The Bahamas. She was a soccer lover at first, but by 12 she’d transitioned that passion to hoops. Finding the facilities, coaching and overall support for the sport lacking in The Bahamas, Jones told her mother she would go to high school in the States and play college basketball.

While that path was extremely rare, Jones was determined, and had a role model to show the way. “Coach Yo!” Jones exclaims over the phone. “She’s the one.”

Coach Yo is Yolett McPhee-McCuin, now the head coach at Ole Miss. Spurred by her father, Gladstone “Moon” McPhee, who coached many kids in The Bahamas (including Jones and the NBA’s Buddy Hield), McPhee-McCuin was the first Bahamian woman to earn a letter of intent from a Division I college. She played at and graduated from Rhode Island after spending two years at Miami-Dade Community College.

Jones learned from McPhee’s basketball path. She also knew a local, Jurelle Nairn, who had attended Riverdale Baptist High School in Maryland as an exchange student. Nairn connected the 13-year-old, high school freshman to Riverdale Baptist coach Diane Richardson and they began speaking.

“I spoke with Jonquel and her mother. She wanted to play here, but tuition was a lot. ‘You can apply,’ I told them. Mom said they couldn’t afford that,” Richardson recalls. “We just went our ways for a little, but I called her back a couple of times to check on her. You could tell she and her mom were awesome. Four or five months later, I spoke with my husband: ‘This is a great kid with a great family — can we sponsor her?’ He said yes.”

During her successful tenure at the school in Upper Marlboro, Md., Richardson and her family occasionally sponsored local kids they wanted to help attend, but never international students.

“This was before Facetime,” Richardson continues. “So I’d never looked at her or seen her play. Just talked periodically. Then she came with her parents. They spent a week at my house and got acclimated with my family. We took them downtown, went to the White House and the monuments and spent time with my family. Her mother says, ‘It was meant for me to come here and turn my child over to you.’ My husband and I were honored. She was such a great kid.”

It was September 2008 and the families agreed Jones would move in with the Richardsons, who would eventually become her legal guardians. Riverdale Baptist was a nationally ranked program that didn’t necessarily have minutes for a player as raw as Jones, so she worked on her game at her new home.

“She has a tremendous work ethic,” Richardson says. “We had a court at home and she’d be out there shooting at 5 a.m. When she came over, she was actually behind our team with her skills. We played for the national championship that first season and she was the only player not to get in. She cried in the car on the way home. I told her, ‘You’re not ready and I’m not gonna play any favorites. You need to work.’”

So she did. Jones would launch shot after shot on the Richardson’s court — including from deep. “My husband and I both played college basketball and he taught her to shoot 3s,” Richardson says. “We’d play 3s and 2s and she’d get so mad when my husband would make 3s. So she practiced them.”

Jones also kept growing, and studying the game. “[Coach Richardson] started showing me video clips of great players that I should learn from,” Jones says today. “A mix of players that would make me a better overall player: Candace Parker, Delle Donne, Hakeem Olajuwon and KD. KD was always my favorite.” (Jones’ No. 35 with the Sun is no coincidence.)

Jones’ unique origin and late start to high school playing time meant she didn’t get much college attention until very late in her high school career. She received her first college letter after 10th grade from Brown University, a school not known for its basketball program.

The experienced Richardson knew she had something special, though. “She saw the potential,” Jones remembers. “She would look at the players ranked ahead of me and say, ‘I’ve seen this girl. She’s not better than you.’ She really recognized what I could be before anyone else and put that confidence in my head.”

Eventually, the recruitniks came around. As Jones was finishing high school, she moved up to No. 17 in ESPN’s national rankings and received an offer from UNC.

Jones chose Clemson, where McPhee-McCuin was a fast-rising assistant coach. When things didn’t work out at Clemson, Jones transferred back “home,” enrolling at GW in Washington, D.C., where Richardson had become an assistant coach.

“My youngest son, Michael, was going through some things and Jonquel said, ‘I gotta come home for my little brother,’” Richardson says. “When she decided to transfer, Baylor, Louisville, everyone was calling about her. I knew there would be bigger programs for her. Her wanting to be home for Michael was touching. We lived about 45 minutes from GW, so she lived on campus but came home on weekends and holidays. And she just kept working. She was always practicing. People would say to me, ‘Every time I walk past the Smith Center, Jonquel is in there, putting up shots.’”

Lisa Cermignano is a past GW great (yours truly covered her as the Colonial’s beat writer during their Elite 8 season in 1996-97) who went on to become a successful college coach and now runs the coaching division at SIG Sports, the Maryland-based agency that represents Jones. “I’d watch her GW games and be like, ‘Holy cow!’ For the A10, she was head and shoulders above the rest,” says Cermignano, who also wore No. 35 at GW.

Despite GW’s and the Atlantic 10’s complete lack of relevance at the WNBA level, Jones showed such dominance as a scorer and rebounder that there was no doubting her pro potential. Fueled by Richardson, Jones knew it, too. She was confident she could make it to the W no matter what school she went to after Clemson. “Coach Thibault would come watch our practices and he told me I could play in the WNBA,” Jones says of the current Washington Mystics coach and 2019 WNBA champion.

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Jones won A10 Player of the Year as a junior at George Washington in 2015. (G Fiume/Getty Images)

As a senior, Jones averaged 16.2 points and an NCAA-best 14.6 rebounds per game while leading GW to a 26-7 record, the A10 tournament championship and the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Sure enough, she was the sixth pick of the 2016 draft — the same number her childhood buddy, Hield, was chosen in the NBA draft of the same year. Jones was the first GW player drafted since 2009 and by far the highest ever taken.

Jones took her ever-expanding game up to Mohegan Sun, and after a so-so 2016 season for her and the team, she began an ascension in 2017 that hasn’t abated. That season she won Most Improved Player as the Sun had their first winning season (21-13) since 2012. In 2018, the Sun tweaked her usage, bringing her off the bench in half of their games as they again went 21-13. Jones promptly won Sixth Woman of the Year. The next year, the Sun rode their All-Star to a 23-11 mark and advanced to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2005, when Jones was just 11 years old.

Last year, of course, was “the Wubble.” Jones, who over the course of her pro career has become a citizen of Bosnia-Herzegovina and starred professionally for Russian power BC UMMC Ekaterinburg alongside the likes of Brittney Griner and Breanna Stewart, sat out the shortened season. She returned to the court for the 2020-21 EuroLeague season and helped Ekaterinburg win the title.

The 2021 regular season has been a lesson in momentum, with Jones building off of her success in Russia and the Sun picking up where they left off in 2019. “There’s definitely been some continuity from 2019,” Jones says. “We had a championship-caliber team that year. But we didn’t have DB [DeWanna Bonner] in 2019. And we haven’t had Alyssa [Thomas] yet this year (though she returned the day after we spoke).”

The Sun rolled to a league-best 26-6 regular season mark, going 15-1 at home and closing the year on a 14-game winning streak. Jones was the WNBA’s Player of the Month in August and September (not to mention May) and has already been named the AP’s Player of the Year. MVP honors (with even more prestige than ours) seem sure to follow.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” Cermignano gushes. “For all of my former teammates and coaches, it is very special to watch. It was so rare for someone of JJ’s caliber to come into the A10, and then to see what she’s accomplishing is beyond special. It’s close to all of us.”

“I’m so proud of her,” Richardson echoes. “And she’s still working. She just wants to get better and I think she will. Kevin Durant has reached out to her and she’s so excited about that. They’re going to work out together and that’s only going to take her to another level.”

At this point, with the personal accolades flowing in like a waterfall, Jones is more focused on what the Sun can do when they begin their title chase Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena. “It’s championship or bust for us,” Jones says with literally zero hesitation. “There are no excuses. We have everything we need to do it.”

And what would a title mean to Jones?

“The world.”

Ben Osborne is the Head of Content at Just Women’s Sports. He has worked for FOX Sports, Bleacher Report and served as SLAM’s longest-tenured Editor-in-Chief. He has written articles for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post and books with NYU Press and Rizzoli. Follow him on Twitter @bosborne17.

Now that the WNBA regular season has come to a close and the playoffs are knocking at the door, we turn our attention to the next most popular debate: the race for the Most Valuable Player award.

Multiple names have come up in the MVP discussion over the course of the season. At this point, some consider it to be a three-player race, others two. I’ve narrowed it down to one myself, making my pick on the official WNBA ballot and the Just Women’s Sports end-of-season awards list.

With the help of former WNBA head coach and general manager Pokey Chatman and ESPN analyst Debbie Antonelli, I take a closer look at the leading MVP candidates — Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson — and break down the cases for and against each player.

“Every year, it seems that the MVP race is tight and it comes down to the last regular season game,” Antonelli said. “That never changes because the competitiveness of the league is so good, but I do think there are two players in the race right now in Jonquel Jones and A’ja Wilson. Those are the two to me that are the strongest and most compelling candidates.”

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(Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Jonquel Jones

19.4 PPG, 51.5 FG%, 80.2 FT%, 36.2 3-point%, 11.2 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.3 BLK, 27 games
Connecticut Sun: 26-6, No. 1 seed

Pros

Jonquel Jones is the favorite to take home the MVP award after leading the Sun to the best record in the league and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs. Jones has redefined the game as a 6-foot-6 post player who can initiate the offense, knock down 3-pointers and dominate the paint on both ends of the floor. She has emerged as an elite franchise player who can reinvent her own game and consistently expand her skill set.

“Jonquel is the one for me and has been exceptional in every facet of the game,” said Chatman, who coached both the Sky and Fever in the past decade. “It’s not a knock on anyone else. It’s just the way she can affect every aspect of the game on either side of the floor and in every phase is what separates her. It’s her shooting and ability to pass, her length, her rim protection.”

Jones’ impact on both the offensive and defensive ends was a major factor in the Sun closing out the regular season on a franchise-record 14-game win streak. Jones finished the season with 18 double-doubles while averaging a league-best 11.2 rebounds per game and ranking fourth with 19.4 points per game.

With her versatility and overall knowledge of the game, she is a mismatch nightmare for opponents, regardless of whether they choose to trap, double team or switch on her. Jones made a habit this season of punishing young players who subbed in or switched on to her and lacked an elite understanding of defensive schemes.

“She’s a two-way player and she has incredible versatility, with her pick-and-pop game and ability to shoot a 3 in transition from a lot of different actions,” Antonelli said. “She does everything. She handles it up the floor, she gets them into their transition game. I love her offensive game. I love the way she protects the rim.”

Cons

The most obvious hurdle to Jones’ candidacy is the five games she missed in June to compete with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the FIBA European Championships.

Some saw the game absences as an opportunity for others to surpass Jones in the race. Others looked at the Sun’s 2-3 record during that stretch as adding to Jones’ case for being the most valuable player to her team.

Jones also wasn’t the only MVP candidate to miss games this season. A’ja Wilson is the sole player on our list who started and played in every game for the Aces.

“Honestly, that can be a surface argument. To me, it’s also a positive,” Chatman said. “While she missed those games, that’s when others were able to figure it out.”

The other potential knock on Jones in the MVP race is that she hasn’t shown a consistent ability to close out tight games.

“A’ja and Stewie are more closers to me than Jonquel,” Antonelli said. “There are other players who make plays at the end of the game for Connecticut. I, quite frankly, think she should be the one making the play.”

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(Abbie Parr/Getty Images)

Breanna Stewart

20.3 PPG, 44 FG%, 84.7 FT%, 33.3 3-point%, 9.5 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.8 BLK, 28 games
Seattle Storm: 21-11, No. 4 seed

Pros

Like many this year, I projected Breanna Stewart to be crowned MVP in the preseason. Her ability to win in nearly every situation seems like a foregone conclusion at this point.

“I mean honestly, where is her deficiency? I don’t know what it is,” Antonelli said.

Stewart finished third in the league with 20.3 points per game and posted career-bests in rebounding and possession, turning the ball over just 1.6 times per game. Her stats and accolades speak for themselves, but her ability to impact the game and those around her is what catches people’s eye.

“It’s undeniable, her length, her range — and I’m talking on both sides of the floor — her range to defend and her range to score,” Chatman said. “For me, it’s the consistency in her actions. She’s going to play the game in a manner in which you might scout it for one possession, but her IQ is going to lead to something really good for Seattle, and it’s not necessarily to Stewie.

“She knows when to roll, when to fade, when to trust a pass or fake to the corner. She knows those nuance parts that we teach, but it’s just innate and it’s always going to keep her at the top of the game.”

Cons

We were growing accustomed to Seattle being on top of the standings, but their 3-5 record in August resulted in a fourth-place finish and only a single-game playoff bye. For many franchises, that would be considered a success. That’s not the case in Seattle based on the standard the Storm have set, and it also doesn’t help in the MVP discussion.

“I think a lot comes down to Connecticut and Las Vegas winning and they’re going to be seeded higher,” Antonelli said. “I mean, it’s like splitting hairs between the three of them honestly. They are all so good.”

A left foot injury forced Stewart to miss the final two games of the regular season and evened the playing field a bit in the “games missed” department.

Another comparison point for our analysts is the evolution of a player’s skill set. In that department, Chatman sees Stewart in a different category.

“I think Stewie has gotten better at the pieces she’s already good at,” Chatman said. “I’m always looking at people that have evolved. Jonquel Jones did that 3-point contest with Allie Quigley? Get out of here! The areas of her game she has added to and elevated have really shined this year, to go along with the dominance of Connecticut.”

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(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

A’ja Wilson

18.3 PPG, 44.4 FG%, 87.6% FT, 9.3 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.3 BLK, 32 games
Las Vegas Aces: 24-8, No. 2 seed

Pros

A’ja Wilson is the only MVP candidate on our list who played in all 32 games. The reigning WNBA MVP finished sixth in the league with 18.3 points per game and led the Aces to the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.

“A’ja has not missed a game. She definitely checks the box of games played and consistency,” Antonelli said. “If I had to put money on any player from 10-15 feet, it would be A’ja. I have marveled at her continued improvement in the elevation of her skill set from there.

“She’s just so good from that spot on the floor. You can’t keep her from catching it there, and when she does catch it, she’s going to make a play. She’s gotten a lot better going right.”

With Liz Cambage in health and safety protocols and sidelined for the final six games of the season, the Aces ran their offense through Wilson even more. The responsibility seemed natural for Wilson, who has consistently succeeded when throwing her team on her back.

“I love the lineup now with A’ja and four guards, because that’s the way she won a national championship at South Carolina,” Antonelli said.

Wilson made a killing at the free throw-line this season, shooting a career-best 87.6 percent. She also finished with career-highs in rebounds and assists per game.

Cons

It’s tough to compare Wilson to Stewart and Jones because she is a different type of player. The one glaring difference, however, is Wilson’s lack of a 3-point shot.

“You can’t look at value only because they’re all three so important,” Antonelli said. “You have to look at their skill set: Who can do the most? And A’ja doesn’t shoot the 3. That’s the only thing.”

“I think A’ja is nipping at their heels. She is right there,” Chatman said. “She is doing more with less in some ways. She’s on the cusp of being there, and I am saying that because she doesn’t have a 3-point shot.”

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Tina Charles (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

On the outside looking in

Brittney Griner demands consideration for the award because of her MVP-like numbers. She finished the season second in scoring, averaging 20.5 points per game, and her five-time Player of the Week honors are a personal best. The Mercury finished in fifth with a 19-13 record, hurting Griner’s case for the award, but her dominance caught everyone’s attention this year.

“She’s been average at times, and now she’s just like an animal,” Chatman said. “I’m looking at Griner like, oh my god, she is dominating. With Brittney Griner, you feel her, you see her, you sometimes fear her.”

Tina Charles put up the best scoring numbers of her 11-year WNBA career, leading the league with 23.3 points per game. That was no easy feat considering every team knew the Mystics were going to run the ball through her due to their depleted roster. Charles was just that efficient offensively and even came close to breaking Diana Taurasi’s single-season scoring record of 25.3 points per game.

Washington, however, went just 12-20 this season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016 after losing their last two regular season games.

“They just didn’t win enough,” Antonelli said. “I think that’s what it comes down to, if you’re going to split hairs on the other three [Stewart, Jones and Wilson]. If you went with the points, rebounds, assists, blocks and the things you can count, that’s one thing. But then you have the things you can’t count — the intangibles, the value of winning.”

Chatman echoed Antonelli’s sentiments, adding that Charles’ candidacy also takes a hit on defense.

“It’s less about what she’s not doing, and more about what other players have done individually that has elevated their teams,” she said. “You don’t deny what Tina has done — she’s getting a lot of opportunities and touches. You have to slide into the defensive aspect of it. If it’s only about offense, that’s one thing. But for me, the Most Valuable Player is the entire game.”

Sylvia Fowles was in a category of her own this season, averaging a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double for the Lynx. Her steady play was the main reason Minnesota bounced back from an 0-4 start to finish the season 22-10 and with the third seed. Fowles’ longevity in her 14th WNBA season doesn’t surprise Chatman, who coached the 35-year-old for four seasons with the Sky.

“Sylvia is doing Sylvia things,” she said. “I don’t ever remember her being a liability. I think her consistency sometimes feels like a given. You know what she’s going to give you. Her dominance comes because she has speed, power and quickness. Those are the terms that aren’t always talked about with Syl. They just think she’s tall, she’s fast, she’s quick, she’s powerful and that translates to both sides of the basketball.”

What will likely keep Fowles from winning the award is similar to the comparisons of other candidates. Fowles had a great year; others were just a little bit better.

“I don’t feel like she’s in the same category because she’s more around the rim than she is face-up,” Antonelli said. “I don’t even see a lot of teams bringing a double to her because they can’t. Cheryl (Reeve) does such a good job of getting her the ball where she’s isolated away from help.”

Final thoughts

I asked Antonelli and Chatman to make their picks for MVP. In the end, we all agreed on Jonquel Jones.

“Jonquel Jones is a stretch-five with guard-like skills and Allie Quigley-like shooting. It’s crazy,” Chatman said. “She is redefining this game. We’ve got players that are averaging points, stopping points, snagging rebounds and helping other people get points. It’s the totality of Jonquel Jones’ and Breanna Stewart’s game that elevates them to heights that others need to get to. We didn’t see this five to seven years ago in this manner.”

“I feel like Jonquel Jones is the MVP because they’re going to finish first, and if you are splitting hairs, I feel like Jonquel has had the best year,” Antonelli said. “I’m trying to remember the last time we had a discussion over three players who all could legitimately win without anybody having a complaint about it, without someone arguing they didn’t deserve it. They all three do.”

Rachel Galligan is a basketball analyst at Just Women’s Sports. A former professional basketball player and collegiate coach, she also contributes to Winsidr. Follow Rachel on Twitter @RachGall.