Superteams can often explode into a spectacular failure like a supernova. The radiant assemblage that is the defending WNBA champions Liberty could easily be such a case. But they aren’t. Why? The stabilizing force of Jonquel Jones.
In 2023, when Jones, Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot joined Sabrina Ionescu in New York, the Liberty had a strong season but fell short of their championship goal, losing to the Aces in four games in the Finals. But in 2024, everything aligned, with Jones lifting the franchise to its first WNBA title, solidifying one simple fact: Jones is the Liberty’s lodestar.
The 31-year-old center is an atypical tone-setter. She isn’t the flashiest player on the court, but she’s often the most versatile (she and Stewart are the only two players in league history to total at least 125 assists, 50 blocks and 50 threes in a season). Jones may not be the loudest voice in the room, but she’s still impactful. “JJ has a feel for when to speak and when not to, and that makes a great leader,” says Liberty coach Sandy Brondello. “Leaders are not always the ones that have to do all the talking. But when she speaks, everybody listens.”
Jones prefers to do most of her talking on the court. Take Game 5 of last year’s Finals. The championship-deciding matchup with the Lynx had barely started and the Liberty already found themselves in a familiar place. Having come so far, it looked like they were going to fall short just as they did against Las Vegas a year before. Minnesota sprinted to an early 6–0 lead and New York looked out of sorts—even frantic. Needing to get on the board, the Liberty put the ball in the hands of their most reliable player. Backing down All-Star forward Napheesa Collier, Jones slowly and deliberately bullied her way to the basket, before spinning for an easy bucket, the Liberty’s first of the game. Two minutes later, with her team still down by half a dozen points, Jones faced up Lynx guard Courtney Williams at the three-point line, hesitated and then drove to the rim as unstoppable as a freight train.
Slowly but surely, Jones settled her team on what would be a back-and-forth night no matter what the Lynx did to disrupt the Liberty’s game plan. She drained two free throws to kick-start a 7–2 run going into halftime. She blunted Minnesota’s momentum again in the third quarter, finishing a three-point play to bring New York within two. At every turn, she did the unsexy work that kept her team afloat. And the Liberty needed every last one of her 17 points and six rebounds to pull out the 67–62 overtime win, especially with uncharacteristic nights from Ionescu (1 for 19 from the field, hindered by an injury in her hand) and Stewart (4 for 15, albeit with 15 rebounds).
“She led us,” Stewart said after the game, excited to see Jones win her first WNBA title. “Her dominance in the paint, on the boards, help-side defense, everything we needed, she was there.”
Having already won WNBA MVP honors with the Sun in 2021, no one would’ve blamed Jones for pursuing an opportunity where she’d be the center of attention. But that isn’t her style. As the Liberty’s self-described “glue,” she revels in the delicate balance necessary to make a blockbuster squad tick. “Playing on a team with other stars is as much sacrifice as it is stardom,” says Jones. “It simply wouldn’t work if all of us expected the ball in our hands at all times.”
Brondello acknowledges that the Liberty will only go as far as Jones, Stewart and Ionescu will take them. Where one has a deficiency, the others must pick up the slack. “They all lead differently, but they complement each other,” says Brondello. “And I think that’s so important. When the others are struggling, JJ knows she needs to step up a little bit more. She certainly has.”
Jones is often a bellwether for the Liberty’s success. They were 11–0 during the 2024 regular season when Jones logged a double double. She finished last year with the league’s fifth-highest net rating (13.4). And if the clutch gene is a real trait, Jones has it in her DNA. She is one of the most efficient shooters in high-pressure scenarios, averaging 63.2% from the field down the stretch in tight games.
Jones, who has been to four Finals in her career, doesn’t shy away from big moments. “I’ve been around long enough to know that the season will have ups and downs but ultimately the small things done consistently lead to big things,” she says. Her quiet fortitude came in handy in the wake of the Liberty’s Game 1 implosion in the 2024 Finals. The Lynx snuck away with a 95–92 overtime win, as New York blew a 12-point lead with less than four minutes left in regulation. Jones has a habit of holding herself accountable when she’s not at her best. And while that certainly wasn’t the case in Game 1, when she had 24 points, 10 rebounds and shot 64% from the floor, the team took its cue from her introspective nature by making an exacting look at its performance. It was no coincidence that the Liberty grabbed a commanding 31–21 first-quarter lead in Game 2 as they recaptured the momentum in the series and went on to win their first WNBA title.
“Last year we were one of the best teams in the league but hadn’t proven that we could win on the biggest stage,” Jones says. “This year we will be the hunted and the sooner we accept it, the better we will be prepared.”
That honest approach to the game is why Brondello relies on Jones during what the team calls “culture meetings”—gatherings where the group gets real about how it needs to improve and what it will need to do to get better. Jones’s insight and vulnerability during those talks has helped her earn the respect of the locker room, according to Brondello.
“I honestly believe that we just got comfortable having the hard conversations and taking it deeper than surface level communication,” says Jones. “In Year 1 you could see it on the court, but later in Year 2 we got it together. It’s easier to have a team like that when everyone takes accountability for ways that they can be better, then actively work towards that.”
When asked about her first impression of Jones, Brondello rattles off an impressive scouting report, deploying phrases like “dominant on the post,” “playmaking off the dribble,” and “skilled for a big.” But what about her personality? “Ohhh,” Brondello exclaims, “I love her. I think everyone loves JJ.” This tracks with her teammates, too. “I love JJ as a teammate and as a person,” Ionescu says. “She’s an all-around A-plus human.” Love seems to be the first word that tumbles out of people’s mouths when asked about Jones, whether it be teammates, coaches or fans. They express their fondness while clutching their chests, shoulders lowering, as if to signify how Jones had wormed her way into their heart.
As much was evident during the franchise’s October ticker-tape parade. With a 28-year championship drought lifted, even the celebratory confetti fell with a sense of relief. The paper coated Jones’s 6' 6" frame, the flag of her native Bahamas draped around her neck, blowing in the wind as she hoisted her Finals MVP trophy over her head. As the Manhattan crowd chanted “M-V-P” in her direction, Jones stood Titanic-style at the mouth of the float, reaching to the sky. After so much sacrifice, she finally got her moment befitting a superstar.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jonquel Jones Is the Quiet Star of the Liberty.