When Jonquel Jones was a kid growing up in the Bahamas, she’d watch U.S. college basketball teams when they’d come down to play in Thanksgiving tournaments. Jones would soon be the best player on the island, but she wanted more. She wanted to be great.
And on Tuesday, hours before the Connecticut Sun begin their WNBA postseason journey, Jones officially became one of the league’s best. She was named WNBA MVP after catapulting the No. 1 Sun to a 26-6 regular-season record, No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs and championship favorites.
The postseason awards didn’t stop there. Sun teammate Brionna Jones was named the WNBA’s Most Improved Player, and coach Curt Miller earned his second Coach of the Year designation.
Jonquel diverges from the mold of recent MVPs who were top-ranked recruits, No. 1 draft picks and whose successes seemed practically predetermined. After moving to Maryland from the Bahamas to pursue her basketball dream, she still played JV in her sophomore year of high school. She was initially ranked the No. 37 player of her high school class before her growth was so impressive ESPN had to reassess its rankings her senior spring. She was drafted No. 6 overall in 2016, before becoming the first MVP to have previously won Most Improved (2017) and Sixth Woman of the Year (2018).
“I feel like my whole journey, my whole basketball career, it’s kind of the same thing, just coming in as an underdog and really working hard,” Jonquel said before Tuesday’s opening semifinal game against the Chicago Sky when she was presented the award.
“I’m happy I learned that at a young age, and I feel like it’s translated well into my professional career. I’m really proud of this.”
Jonquel, a 6-foot-6 forward/center, concluded the regular season fourth in the league in scoring (19.4 points per game) and first in rebounding (11.2 per game). It was the third time in four seasons she’s led the league in rebounding, and she was one of two players to average a double-double. Her dominance this summer — from all three levels (she shot 36.2 percent on 3s) and on both ends of the floor (on Sunday she was named all-defensive first team for the second time in her career) — was impossible to overlook, even as she missed five games in June while playing in EuroBasket with the Bosnian national team.
Jonquel, the second Connecticut player to win MVP following Tina Charles in 2012, earned 48 of 49 votes, with Phoenix’s Brittney Griner getting the other. Griner finished in second place, followed by Seattle’s Breanna Stewart, Minnesota’s Sylvia Fowles and Washington’s Charles.
Jonquel now joins an elite group of MVPs including Sheryl Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, Tamika Catchings, Lauren Jackson, Lisa Leslie and more.
“It’s definitely a privilege, and it’s something that I’ll be proud of and carry with me for the rest of my career,” she said.
Jonquel’s frontcourt mate, Brionna Jones, earned 38 of 49 votes for most improved. Las Vegas’ Kelsey Plum finished in second with eight votes, while Dallas’ Marina Mabrey earned two and New York’s Betnijah Laney one.
Brionna, a 6-3 center, barely played her first three years on the Sun, playing the second fewest minutes on their 2019 WNBA Finals team. Her rise was the perfect storm of hard work, persistence and opportunity. When Jonquel opted out of the 2020 WNBA season, Brionna was tasked with stepping up as the team’s starting center. She excelled in that role but elevated her game to a whole other level this past season when her number was called once more with Alyssa Thomas out due to an Achilles injury and Jonquel’s temporary absence.
Brionna averaged career highs of 14.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists in 30.6 minutes in 32 starts for the Sun this season. She had at least 20 points in six games this summer after only having two such games in her previous four WNBA seasons.
“All the steps were there, all the preparation was there, the mindset was there, just staying prepared for whatever was coming next season and the work ethic that I was putting in behind the scenes,” Brionna said of her progression from 2019 to now. “That preparation and always being ready allowed me to be here tonight.”
After also winning Coach of the Year in 2017, Miller becomes the sixth coach to win the award multiple times, joining Van Chancellor, Cheryl Reeve, Mike Thibault, Dan Hughes and Bill Laimbeer.
Miller, who joined the Sun in 2016 and has led them to deep postseason finishes since 2019, received 41 votes, with Reeve earning six and Laimbeer and Noelle Quinn with one each.
Connecticut’s winning percentage (.813) is the best in franchise history, and their 14-game win streak to conclude the regular season is the fourth-longest streak in WNBA history. But Miller said this year of all years, he’s probably coached “less than maybe ever, but it’s worked.”
“The biggest satisfaction is watching me take a step back this year, and watching so much peer accountability and the leadership that we have by not one player, but numerous players in that locker room and then lastly watching the voices of my assistant coaches,” Miller said. “You do your best coaching sometimes in the stormy seasons. As a coach you’re a rudder, and you have to use that rudder a lot in the stormy seasons. In some of the great seasons, you’ve just got to stay steady and take a step back, and less is more.”
WNBA Most Valuable Player award winners
2021: Jonquel Jones, Connecticut Sun
2020: A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces
2019: Elena Delle Donne, Washington Mystics
2018: Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm
2017: Sylvia Fowles, Minnesota Lynx
2016: Nneka Ogwumike, Los Angeles Sparks
2015: Elena Delle Donne, Chicago Sky
2014: Maya Moore, Minnesota Lynx
2013: Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks
2012: Tina Charles, Connecticut Sun
2011: Tamika Catchings, Indiana Fever
2010: Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
2009: Diana Taurasi, Phoenix Mercury
2008: Candace Parker, Los Angeles Sparks
2007: Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
2006: Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
2005: Sheryl Swoopes, Houston Comets
2004: Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
2003: Lauren Jackson, Seattle Storm
2002: Sheryl Swoopes, Houston Comets
2001: Lisa Leslie, Los Angeles Sparks
2000: Sheryl Swoopes, Houston Comets
1999: Yolanda Griffith, Sacramento Monarchs
1998: Cynthia Cooper, Houston Comets
1997: Cynthia Cooper, Houston Comets
Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com
