Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) professional player Jonquel ‘JJ’ Jones is slowly working her way back from a nagging ankle injury that has kept her on the sidelines for the New York Liberty since late June.
The Grand Bahamian center re-aggravated a previous ankle injury in the New York Liberty’s 89-81 loss to the Phoenix Mercury at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on June 19. She sustained the injury at the 8:35 mark of the second quarter of that game on a layup attempt, and the Liberty announced her recovery period would be approximately four to six weeks.
Since then, the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP (Most Valuable Player) has been recuperating. She participated in five-on-five action for the first time since reinjuring the ankle, last Saturday, according to Liberty Head Coach Sandy Brondello.
“It was nice to put her in the five-on-five [Saturday] and just see the impact immediately that she has on our group,” Brondello said. “We still need to just build her up now and get her stamina up, but she’s worked really hard.”
It was Jones’ second time missing action this season due to injury. The 31-year-old initially hurt her ankle in the Liberty’s 86-78 victory over the Washington Mystics on June 5. She briefly returned to action before re-aggravating the injury later in the month.
This time around, her plan is to make sure she’s fully healthy before returning to the court.
“I’m as close to 100 percent as possible,” she said last week.
Prior to her injury, the WNBA champion was averaging 12.1 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from long range.
She was just shy of averaging a double-double and turned in six of them before going down.
The Liberty have certainly missed her presence during her absence.
The reigning champions opened the season by reeling off nine consecutive wins, but have had a 5-6 win/loss record in their last 11 outings.
New York now owns a 14-6 record. They have cooled off a bit since starting with a 9-0 mark.
The Liberty came into the season as a perennial title favorite after defeating the Minnesota Lynx three games to two in the 2024 WNBA Finals.
Jones was awarded the WNBA Finals MVP and joined an exclusive club. She became just the third non-American to win both the WNBA title and the WNBA Finals MVP.
Next up for the Liberty is a matchup against the Indiana Fever tonight at 7:30 p.m. That game will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.