January 31, 2025
Atlanta Dream to sign Brionna Jones after eight seasons with Connecticut Sun, per report
The move comes two days after the Dream signed Brittney Griner and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough to one-year deals
The Atlanta Dream bolstered its roster with another massive move in WNBA free agency on Thursday, as the franchise plans to sign forward Brionna Jones to a deal, according to ESPN’s Alexa Philippou.
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Atlanta acquiring Jones comes two days after ESPN’s Shams Charania and Philippou reported that the Dream signed Brittney Griner and after Kareem Copeland of The Washington Post reported the signing of Shatori Walker-Kimbrough to a one-year contract. Jones, who was drafted by Connecticut at No. 8 in the 2017 WNBA Draft, leaves the Northeast after spending her entire eight-year WNBA career with the Sun. However, she will not able to officially sign a contract with the Dream until Feb. 1.
Jones began to elevate her stock in Connecticut during the 2020 WNBA season in The Wubble in Bradenton, Fla. That season, Jones registered a career-high in field goal percentage and the third-best in the league as well as a career high in blocks per game (0.7).
However, the three-time WNBA All-Star made her biggest leap in the 2021 campaign, when she started all 32 games for the Sun and averaged 14.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists while earning her first WNBA All-Star nod. Since 2020, the 29-year-old’s production has resulted in numerous league accolades that include the 2021 Most Improved Player, WNBA All-Defensive Second Team recognition and 2022 Sixth Player of the Year. Jones has maintained double digit production in points in her last five seasons, despite playing in only 13 games in 2023 due to rupturing her right Achilles tendon that required season-ending surgery.
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How Jones fits with the Dream
In the 2024 campaign, Jones played in all 40 games, averaging 13.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, 0.6 blocks per contest on a Sun team that lost to the Minnesota Lynx in the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs. Jones joins a Dream squad under new head coach Karl Smesko, who plans to run an up-tempo style of play featuring more 3-point shooting, floor spacing and offensive efficiency.
With Atlanta hoping to create space and efficient offense through the trio of Jordin Canada, Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray, Jones gives the Dream another strong rebounder — especially on the offensive boards (Jones averaged 2.2 offensive rebounds per game last season, 10th best in the WNBA last season) — to aid in the potential for more second-chance points off missed shots from the floor. Jones also gives Atlanta another source of offense.
She has averaged 10.1 points per contest in her WNBA career while also sitting in the top 10 among active players in the league in field goal percentage since 2020. The Baltimore, Maryland native also finished seventh in the league in two pointers made per 40 minutes, 15th in points per play (1.04) and fourth in field goals made in the restricted area last season, according to HerHoopsStats.
Shortly after reports surfaced that Jones was taking her talents to Atlanta, Howard and Gray tweeted their thoughts in reaction to the news.
“Ahahaaa we moving different 🤪😮💨,” Howard tweeted Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Gray, who was excited after the Dream’s acquisition of Griner, didn’t hold back in her joy for Jones as well.
“AHHHHHHHHH WHAT A WEEEEEK” and “ANOTHER ONE THANK YOUUUU,” Gray wrote on X.
Atlanta finished the 2024 season 15-25 and earned the eighth seed in the WNBA playoffs, securing back-to-back playoff berths for the first time since the 2013 and 2014 campaigns. However, the eventual WNBA champion New York Liberty swept the Dream in two games in the first round of the playoffs.
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Written by Wilton Jackson
Wilton Jackson II covers the Atlanta Dream and the SEC for The Next. A native of Jackson, Miss., Wilton previously worked for Sports Illustrated along with other media outlets. He also freelances for different media entities as well. He attended the University of Southern Mississippi, where he earned his Bachelor's degree in multimedia journalism (broadcast) before earning a Master's degree in mass communication from LSU and a second Master's degree in sport management from Jackson State University.
