Jonquel Jones endured a limited 2025 season and underwent ankle surgery in October.
Healthy and confident now, 2026 has been good to Jones, with the New York Liberty star earning her sixth WNBA All-Star Game nod earlier this week.
Jones will put her return to form on display again Saturday when the Liberty faces WNBA co-leader Minnesota Lynx at Minneapolis.
“It means a lot to me. It feels good to be playing at an All-Star level,” Jones told the New York Post. “So thank you to everybody that voted for me, (who) took the time to do that, but yeah, it feels good. It feels good to be able to go out there and represent the Liberty.”
The Liberty (13-9) are tied with the Atlanta Dream atop the Eastern Conference, and are fifth overall in the WNBA, despite losing three of their past four games. The downturn includes an 88-77 loss to the Dallas Wings on Tuesday.
The Lynx (16-6) are tied with the Las Vegas Aces as the best team in the league.
Minnesota is on a quest for its first WNBA title since 2017. The Lynx last played in the Finals in 2024 when they lost to the Liberty.
Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve won her league-record 380th game in Wednesday’s 86-60 victory over the Connecticut Sun.
“We try to bring them along and help them believe in themselves and see things in them that maybe they just don’t see yet,” Reeve told reporters. “We’d like to be in a position at the end to have something to say (about winning a title). We have a long way to go to get there.”
The Lynx ended a two-game losing streak with their win over the Sun and look to avenge last Friday’s 99-86 loss to the Liberty.
Minnesota rookie guard Olivia Miles leads the way at 18.5 points per game but has missed two straight contests with a calf injury. Natasha Howard ranks second in scoring (17.0 points) and is the top rebounder on the team, grabbing 8.0 per contest.
Jones has averaged 15.2 points and 9.1 rebounds for the Liberty, while scoring in double figures over 10 consecutive games, while shooting at least 50% from the floor in each contest.
Minnesota is 6-4 on its own court, while New York is 6-4 on the road. The Lynx have averaged 90.0 points per game and are shooting 48.0% from the field — second in the WNBA in both categories.
The Liberty lead the league in free-throw efficiency at 85.3%.
–Field Level Media
