If the Liberty were going to have a player win the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP award, it would’ve been odd if anyone else walked home with the trophy.
Still, Jonquel Jones has been snubbed before in her two WNBA Finals series losses with the Connecticut Sun.
However, after Jones averaged 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds in the five-game series, commissioner Cathy Engelbert called out the five-time All-Star for the honor after the Liberty clinched their first franchise title with a 67-62 Game 5 overtime victory over the Lynx on Sunday.
It took four WNBA Finals appearances for Jones to earn her first title and her first Finals MVP award in her nine-year career.
“Y’all know my story, y’all know how many times I’ve been denied it, but it was delayed that’s all it was,” Jones said as she accepted the award on the court in front of a sellout crowd at Barclays Center.
In her six seasons with the Sun, Jones went on two runs to the WNBA Finals and earned the 2021 MVP award.
Despite losing in the finals to the Washington Mystics in 2019 and to the Las Vegas Aces in 2022, Jones made a case for MVP in both series by averaging 19.2 points and 11 rebounds, and 16 points, respectively.
After her 17 points and six rebounds in Game 5 helped lead the Liberty to victory, Jones finally has the trophy.
“I’m just really happy. I’m really just trying to take in the moment and just enjoy every aspect of it,” Jones said. “I’m just up here smiling, thanking Jesus and thanking my teammates.”
The Freeport, Bahamas native left her family behind to move to Maryland in pursuit of a career in basketball and she eventually landed with George Washington for her collegiate career.
She was drafted sixth overall in the 2016 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks before she was traded to the Sun and later joining the Liberty alongside Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu to form the superteam in 2023.
After the victory, the Liberty said they want a championship parade and the next WNBA exhibition game in the Bahamas for Jones.
“I’m just really proud of JJ,” head coach Sandy Brondello said Sunday. “I love coaching her. I just love her personality, how she brings it every single day. She was big for us and it wasn’t a pretty game today. … Usually I don’t like to play her 42 minutes but she just stayed, competing, because that’s how important it was. She knew how she needed to help us.”