Bahamian professional women’s basketball player Jonquel ‘JJ’ Jones is set for a ninth straight to the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) postseason as her team, the New York Liberty, clinched a spot on Sunday.
The Liberty officially secured a spot in the 2026 WNBA playoffs following the Portland Fire’s loss to the Washington Mystics on Sunday night.
As mentioned, Jones is in the WNBA postseason for a ninth straight season, missing the playoffs just her rookie season, while the Liberty is making a sixth consecutive appearance.
The 32-year-old 10-year center, who recently returned to the court from a left ankle injury, is having a respectable season. Former league Most Valuable Player (MVP) Jones is averaging 14.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists while 49.7 percent from the floor and 38.5 percent from three-point range this season. She has started 37 games of 37 games played for the Liberty this season, missing just one game.
Jones and the Liberty are sixth in the WNBA Standings with a 23-15 win/loss record, currently battling for playoff positioning. They are just a game and a half out of hosting a playoff series. In fact, the 3-8 teams in the playoff chase, six teams in total, are all separated by just three and a half games.
Jones and the Liberty have won three of their last four games and seven of their last nine. They got a big win over the Indiana Fever on Saturday, pulling off a 109-102 win at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Fever, at 25-14, are just a game and a half ahead of the Liberty in the standings.
Jones returned to action and pumped in 19 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and added 10 rebounds for her 16th double-double of the season. She exited the previous game with the ankle injury, going down in the first quarter of that game.
The Fever led just twice against the Liberty on Saturday, neither time by more than two points. The teams have split the season series, 2-2.
The Liberty have a tough schedule the remainder of the way. They have six games left on the season — four against three of the top four teams in the league. They host the second-place Golden State Valkyries on Thursday, still have to travel to play the league-leading Minnesota Lynx, and have two home games against the Atlanta Dream to close out the season.
Jones and the Liberty are trying to make it back to the WNBA Finals after falling in the first round to the Phoenix Mercury last year. The previous year, they won the WNBA title three games to two over the Lynx.
In their next game, Jones and the Liberty will battle the second-place Valkyries. That game will be played on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.