June 22, 2025
What is the New York Liberty’s path forward with Jonquel Jones out at least a month?
On Saturday, the Liberty announced that Jones would miss four to six weeks
After the Liberty lost 89-81 to the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday, head coach Sandy Brondello remarked that losing Jonquel Jones with 8:35 left in the second quarter took “a little bit of the energy away” from her team. Jones sprained her right ankle, the same one she’d sprained on June 5 against the Washington Mystics.
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Jones was seen in a walking boot after Thursday’s game, but teammate Kennedy Burke told reporters that Jones was still in positive spirits in the locker room. “She’s fine,” Burke said. “She always has a good attitude when something happens.”
The Liberty announced on Saturday that they would be without Jones, the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP, for approximately four to six weeks.
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Following the injury on Thursday, a team source told The Next that Jones wouldn’t travel with the team to Seattle on Friday and would instead get further evaluation and imaging on her ankle. There was early optimism that Jones might play at some point during the Liberty’s week-long road trip. But after the imaging was completed on Friday, the decision was made that Jones would be unavailable until at least the WNBA All-Star break. The break concludes on July 21, and the Liberty play the Indiana Fever at home on July 22.
Jones could miss anywhere from nine to 15 games, depending on whether she returns right after the All-Star break or two weeks later. If Jones returns right after All-Star weekend, she would be available for games against the Fever on July 22, the Phoenix Mercury on July 25 and the Minnesota Lynx on July 30.
This will all be dependent on how quickly Jones’ ankle heals. Previously, Jones was diagnosed with a first-degree ankle sprain and returned to play two weeks later. According to a source within the medical community who has no association with the Liberty, first-degree sprains are much more likely than higher grades to be susceptible to reinjury. That’s because they are much less painful than higher grades even if the ankle doesn’t completely heal.
The last time a Liberty player was out with an ankle sprain was two years ago, when center Stefanie Dolson went down against the Atlanta Dream on June 23 and was out for 49 days. The issue that persisted once Dolson returned was that her conditioning wasn’t up to par.
That’s something to monitor when it comes to Jones’ rehab. It will most likely happen in a couple of phases: First, Jones will be off her ankle and stay away from most physical activity. Once it begins to feel better and heal up, she’ll work on conditioning. That’s part of why New York gave a timetable of four to six weeks. It isn’t clear right now how long the ankle will take to heal and then how long she’ll work to get conditioned.
Who will step up for the Liberty while Jones is out?
When Jones hasn’t been on the floor, the Liberty’s offensive and defensive productivity have been weaker this season. When both Jones and Leonie Fiebich, who is currently competing in EuroBasket, are off the court, the Liberty are allowing more points per 100 possessions than they’re scoring.
Fiebich will return, at the latest, for the Liberty’s next home game on July 3 against the Sparks. That will give New York a lift. But until then, New York will need to work harder to get back into the win column. As a result, roles will increase for bench players, namely Nyara Sabally, Burke, Marine Johannès and Rebekah Gardner.
Sabally, who decided not to play in EuroBasket this summer, will be most impacted by Jones’ injury. Brondello will most likely start Sabally in Jones’ place, unless she wants to go smaller with Breanna Stewart at the five, Burke at the four and Johannès at the three until Fiebich returns.
Sabally told reporters after the Liberty’s loss on Thursday that her mindset doesn’t change with Jones out, but she understands that her role does.
“I mean, it’s not just me; it’s everybody … that needs to step up a little, because she’s such an amazing player,” Sabally said. “It’s not up to one player to do that, but just kind of being aware of me playing more minutes, me being more involved in everything, and kind of focusing on the things I do best to help that team, whether it’s setting screens [or] getting on the glass.”
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Natasha Cloud echoed Sabally’s sentiment about how everyone on the Liberty has to step up now with Jones out. She called the injury deflating, especially because she observed how hard Jones worked to get her ankle ready to be able to play against the Dream on Tuesday and the Mercury on Thursday.
“We’re going to just try to protect and step up for our dog, but what needs to happen is we need to rebound, and we need to supplement those points that [Jones] does give this team,” Cloud said. “We have everything that we need in this locker room. It’s that ‘next woman up’ mentality and everyone just being confident.”
That confidence has to permeate from the top down on the Liberty. They have a challenging schedule on the road coming up, including games against the Seattle Storm, Golden State Valkyries, Mercury and Dream.
Late on Saturday night, Stewart sent a message in a post on Instagram. The post was a black-and-white, slow-motion video of some of her highlights from Thursday’s game. Stewart wrote below the post: “Just one of those nights, but the job’s not finished. Clock resets tomorrow.”
The sound in the background featured Stewart and Ionescu speaking to reporters during a postgame press conference about how the two have traded 30-point games. Stewart put up 35 points against Phoenix that night, but it wasn’t enough for the Liberty to win. Ionescu put up 34 points against the Fever on June 14, but it wasn’t enough for the Liberty to win. In both games, the Liberty were without Jones.
The offense will have to run through Stewart on Sunday, as Ionescu was ruled out with a neck injury and is day-to-day. Once Ionescu returns, Stewart and Ionescu will need to lead the charge without the third member of their “Big Three” for at least a month. But they will need to demand better and more effort from the healthy players around them. They need everyone else to step up, too, for the team to succeed long-term.
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Written by Jackie Powell
Jackie Powell covers the New York Liberty for The Next and hosts episodes of Locked on Women's basketball where she explores national women's basketball stories. She also has covered women's basketball and the culture of the sport for Bleacher Report, Sports Illustrated, MSNBC, Yahoo Sports, Harper's Bazaar and SLAM. She also self identifies as a Lady Gaga stan, is a connoisseur of pop music and is a mental health advocate.
