January 20, 2023
Locked on Women’s Basketball: The Sun is not setting
By The Next
Jonquel Jones and Jasmine Thomas were traded away, and the Sun plan to build around Alyssa Thomas and Brionna Jones.
Note: Due to issues with email deliverability, we were unable to email the great recap of unrestricted free agency predictions by The Next’s staff, with summary and statistics courtesy of our Em Adler. You can read that recap here.
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It’s time for another episode of the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast. In this episode, host and Atlantic 10 beat writer Natalie Heavren is joined by The Next’s Connecticut Sun beat writer Jacqueline LeBlanc. Natalie and Jacqueline discuss the flurry of moves from the Sun so far this offseason, and what they mean for Connecticut moving forward.
Jacqueline on a comment Sun head coach Stephanie White made at her introductory press conference back in November:
There was a point where Stephanie White was asked about coaching someone like Tamika Catchings, an MVP who she had coached on the Indiana Fever when [White] was last in the WNBA. [White] talked a lot about how great it is to have an MVP like Tamika on your team, she’s a generational player, she’s got that grit, she’s got that energy. … and she said Connecticut has a similar player.
And Connecticut did have an MVP [in Jonquel Jones], so you think that might be who she’d name-drop. But then she ended up comparing Alyssa Thomas to Tamika Catchings.
Jacqueline on what makes Brionna Jones such an important piece for Connecticut to retain:
She is really valuable to this team, and they want to keep her. Darius [Taylor] talked about how she has continued to develop herself over the last couple of years. We’ve seen her get better and better, even going to [a bench role] this year after two seasons as a starter … she was still productive as ever. She is one of the best offensive rebounders in the entire league. Darius has talked about how you can see the fruits of her labor, you can see her get better, you can see her work on her game.
To stay up to date on every episode of the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast, subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. For all of our WNBA free agency coverage, click here. For Jacqueline’s Connecticut Sun coverage, click here!
