It’s quite unfortunate to hear that Brionna Jones resigned due to a dangerous injury that she sustained.
Win a title and you have to have a little luck. A dynasty would require a bit more. Perhaps no team understands it better than the Connecticut Sun, who watch helplessly as hundreds of people ride the waves of luck at the slots outside Mohegan Sun Arena, unable to break through on their own.
The Sun have been successful in the last three seasons even though they have played without at least one starter for the most of the campaign. Brionna Jones, a previous Most Improved Player and Sixth Player of the Year who the organization cored in the offseason, suffered a non-contact leg injury late in a Tuesday night victory over Seattle, continuing the unwelcome trend. The team then declared that Jones will miss the remainder of the 2023 season due to a ruptured right Achilles tendon, which he successfully repaired surgically. There is no set timeline for her return, according to a statement from The Sun.
Jones released a statement saying, “Although this is not how I had planned for this season to end for me, I am determined and ready to head into the next stage of recovery and rehab.” “I am confident that I have an incredible support network behind me, and I will emerge from this stronger than before. Even though I will most certainly miss competing every night with this amazing bunch of women, I am thrilled to watch this team grow and succeed this season.
Without a key player, the Sun have made it to the WNBA Finals twice in the last four years. They lost in the semifinals the other two years, one of which was without their star center. They have been the most successful team since 2017. However, they haven’t won a WNBA championship.
It’s reasonable to say that, in the last five to ten years, the Sun have been the unluckiest side in the league. One could make arguments for the Washington Mystics, whose MVP Elena Delle Donne missed time following their championship to endure two back surgeries, and the Seattle Storm, who were unable to run it back after losing Breanna Stewart for a year due to Achilles rehab.
Counterargument: Each of their cases has a minimum of one trophy. The Sun receives a point since they are, at the very least, the Most Unlucky.
Three teams are still vying for the title of first WNBA champion, including Connecticut. The team was present when Washington was eliminated from those rankings in 2019, and in 2021, they watched from home as the Chicago Sky won their first championship. They passed the jubilant Aces locker room last autumn while the team celebrated winning the first championship in club and local history at their own home.
In preseason talk, a title in 2023 was already considered a distant shot. With the return of all five starters and the addition of two-time champion Candace Parker from the Sky title squad, the Aces are the clear favorites. The last original organization without a championship, the New York Liberty, assembled a super team in a deal with the Sun that included Courtney Vandersloot of the Sky, Stewart, a two-time Storm champion, and former league MVP Jonquel Jones.
The super-teams, the shift to their core six, and the replacement of two-time Coach of the Year Curt Miller with first-year leader Stephanie White caused them to be disregarded. However, the Sun (11-3) are second in the standings and the only team to have defeated the powerful Aces thus far more than 25% of the way into the season.
Before Jones went down, things were looking up. She shot 57.1% (fifth) from the floor and averaged 15.9 points, 8.2 rebounds (ninth in the league), 2.4 assists, and 1.8 steals (fourth). With four players scoring in double figures, the Suns are a balanced team led only by DeWanna Bonner’s 17.9 points per game. Behind two Aces, a Stewie (Stewart) and teammate and triple-double sensation Alyssa Thomas, her Hoop Stats place her seventh in win shares.
In Uncasville, losing a player of that level in the midst of a successful postseason run is nothing new. (Or actually, Connecticut in general). It’s difficult to replace such chemistry and talent, though.
A bad streak of health
After the Suns advanced to the 2019 Finals and lost to the Mystics in the fourth quarter of Game 5, and consequently the series, their front office did not remain static. Building on consecutive second-round exits, they were the No. 2 overall seed (the Mystics were No. 1) and had advanced to the Finals for the first time since 2005.
They made the first dramatic move of the new 2020 CBA, which allowed for longer free agency windows, that February when they acquired Bonner in a sign-and-trade with the Phoenix Mercury. The move that generated the greatest talk about a super team was the addition of Skylar Diggins-Smith by the Mercury, who had obtained three first-round picks from the Sun; but, in hindsight, it was insignificant compared to the Sun’s addition of a two-time champion to their core.
It’s never easy to give up draft picks, but at the time, Miller stated, “We felt that adding another established, talented piece was very, very important to us. We’re in a window right now with an outstanding roster.” “We decided to include draft picks rather than necessarily players in order to avoid trying to break up the core.”
A core group that never gelled, never had enough good fortune, and was never able to establish themselves as a championship-winning superteam. It is as a result of their never being well.
With an experienced starting five that included Briann January, Alyssa Thomas, Jonquel Jones, Jasmine Thomas, and Bonner, the Sun were among the early favorites in 2020. However, the season was shifted to a Bradenton, Florida bubble, and Jones chose not to play in the reduced schedule.
Whatever. Thanks to a breakout season from center Brionna Jones, Connecticut made it to the semifinals despite a 0–6 start and the third-worst offensive rating. In Game 5 of the series, they were defeated by the Aces. Bonner led the Sun offense with 19.7 points per game. Miller called him one of the “most coveted free agents” of the era. In 26.1 minutes per game, Brionna Jones shot a career-best 60.7% and averaged three times as many baskets as she did in the previous season, when she averaged 8.4 minutes and fewer than two field goals per game.
Before Alyssa Thomas suffered an Achilles tendon rupture while playing for ZVVZ USK Praha in the Czech Republic in 2021, everything was set up for success. (Thomas hurt her left shoulder in 2017 and her right shoulder in 2015; she currently plays with two torn labrums.) After undergoing surgery on her Achilles tendon in January 2021, it was anticipated that she would miss the whole WNBA season.
On June 20, 2023, in Seattle, during their game, Sun forward Alyssa Thomas attempts to shot against Storm guard Jewell Loyd in the third quarter. (Getty Images/Steph Chambers))
