Baby, this what you came for…
Yes, this is what Jonquel Jones came for. The lyric, sung by Jones’ fellow Caribbean native Rihanna, expresses the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP’s journey to top of the women’s basketball world.
Her hoops career has been defined by sacrifices. Leaving the Bahamas at age 14 to come to the United States with hopes of advancing her basketball career. Coming off the bench, and winning Sixth Player of the Year, for the Connecticut Sun in 2018 after being named a first-time WNBA All-Star and the league’s Most Improved Player in 2017. Playing overseas for Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Korea, China, Russia and Turkey not just to develop her game but also to access financial opportunities to benefit her family and young, aspiring basketball players in the Bahamas. Accepting a reduced role on the Sun after winning the 2021 WNBA MVP award. Choosing to join the New York Liberty during the 2023 offseason, where, as a member of a “super team,” her singular star power would not shine as bright.
But this—a WNBA championship and WNBA Finals MVP—is why she did it. She earned what she was coming for.
And along the way, the series of sacrifices Jones made in her search of greatness have resulted in just that; she quietly has compiled one of the…
