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Jonquel Jones is no stranger to The Associated Press’s WNBA Awards.
In previous years, the Connecticut forward Sun has been honored by the media voting in the AP WNBA weekly poll as the sixth woman of the year and Most Improved Player. This year, the 6-foot-6 Jones is the unanimous choice for AP Player of the Year honors by the 14-member panel.
The WNBA will announce its league awards during the playoffs, which begin Thursday.
Jones guided Connecticut to the league’s best record and seed in the WNBA playoffs.
“She’s been amazing all year since day one of her arrival,” said Sun coach Curt Miller, who was unanimously chosen as AP Coach of the Year. “With Alyssa Thomas away most of the year, she had the opportunity to be a host, remove the ball from the defensive glass and put it back herself.”
Jones finished the season averaging 19.4 points and a record 11.2 rebounds.
“She’s the elite rebounder in the world when she plays,” said Miller, who won the Coach of the Year award for the second time. “She anchored a historic rebound season for us. She’s the centerpiece of it. We hung our hat on it. The kind of record-breaking rebound season we’ve had is a contributing factor to our win-lose success. “
The Sun also has the AP’s most improved player in Brionna Jones. She averaged a career-high 14.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and shot 57.1 percent from the field.
Other winners:
Sylvia Fowles is Defensive Player of the Year. This is the third time she’s won the award since 2016 – the first year the PA has given awards.
Kelsey Plum is the sixth woman of the year, ending her teammate’s two-year run in Las Vegas Dearica Hamby as the league’s first reserve. Plum also won the Comeback Player of the Year award. She missed last season with an Achilles tendon injury to come back this year and average a career-high 14.8 points and 3.6 assists.
“The comeback means a lot more to me than the sixth man,” Plum said. “I don’t know what people expected of me to come back. I knew it would be like this. It’s cool that other people can see that.”
Plum said she was happy to be able to inspire others, not just athletes, who have been injured that they too can overcome serious injuries. She said she was inspired by Breanna Stewart, who had returned from the same the year before.
As for retaining the Sixth Woman of the Year award in the Las Vegas family, she gave Hamby credit for being a big reason she was able to adjust to play well coming out of the bench.
“For me it’s a co-award and I accept it with Dearica,” Plum said. “Me and she have been through a lot and it’s not easy to leave the bench knowing that you are a starter and a quality player in this league. She has really helped me because she has been in this role for so many years. ‘years and handled it with such grace. “
Michaela Onyenwere was the unanimous pick as rookie of the year. New York Liberty’s No.6 pick averaged 8.6 points and started 29 of 32 games.
“It’s an honor to know the players who came before me,” said Onyenwere. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and coaches who believed in me from the start.”
Onyenwere was joined in the AP rookie squad by teammate Didi Richards, Aari McDonald of Atlanta, Dana Evans of Chicago and Charli Collier of Dallas.
The AP All-League First Team includes Jonquel Jones, Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Breanna Stewart and Tina Charles. The second team are A’ja Wilson, Jewell Loyd, Fowles, Candace Parker and Courtney Vandersloot,
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