At the beginning of the 2024 season, New York Liberty forward Jonquel Jones shared a brand new perspective on how she is approaching the upcoming 12 months.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” she said.

While Jones, entering her eighth season within the league, talked concerning the upcoming season, the phrase might be applied to many features of her WNBA profession.

In some ways, Jones’ rise through the league has been a marathon. She went from not making the All-Rookie team to being the league’s Most Improved Player in 2017 and from WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year in 2018 to being the league’s MVP in 2021.

Her goal was also to win the championship.

While Liberty battles for the championship against the Minnesota Lynx, Jones is playing within the fourth WNBA Finals of his profession. The WNBA title is considered one of the most recent awards Jones can add to his trophy case. So far it has been elusive.

This 12 months could also be Jones’ best championship run as a member of a Liberty team that finished the regular season at the highest of the league and eliminated fellow champion Las Vegas Aces en path to the WNBA Finals.

However, Jones and Liberty may have some work to do after running into Ryś while biting his nails 95-93 Overtime thriller in the primary match on Thursday. If her performance within the series opener is any indication, Jones is determined to finish the championship drought for herself and the team.

“This is the last thing JJ needs to check,” Liberty teammate Courtney Vandersloot said.

“It’s a big deal for her.”

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, within the 28-year history of the WNBA, 10 players have lost their first three Finals appearances.

Of those 10 players, guard Katie Douglas won the championship – in 2012 with the Indiana Fever. The list includes players corresponding to forward Angel McCoughtry and former Liberty guards Becky Hammon, Vickie Johnson and Teresa Weatherspoon.

As she prepared for the finals, Jones focused on the opportunities before her.

“I just come to play hard,” Jones said. “I’m really the kind of one who focuses on one thing at a time, whatever a very powerful thing is, I let it’s a very powerful thing. Of course you learn out of your performance within the finals, but you approach it with the mindset to win the match.

Although the teams Jones played for were unsuccessful of their first three attempts at winning the championship, she delivered great play. According to ESPN Research, she is considered one of only six players in WNBA history to record greater than 20 double-doubles within the playoffs.

Jones performed brilliantly in each of his three finals appearances. In 2019, Jones averaged 19.2 points, 11 rebounds and 1.8 assists in her first Finals appearance with the Connecticut Sun against the Washington Mystics, a series that led to the fifth and final game. In 2022, Jones averaged 16 points, 8.3 rebounds and a couple of.3 assists against the Las Vegas Aces, who led the Sun in 4 games. Last season, Jones averaged 18.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and a couple of.8 blocks against the Aces as Las Vegas won its second straight title in 4 games.

On Thursday in the primary game, Jones scored 24 points and 10 rebounds, which is the best in each games.

“Honestly, that’s the story of my career,” Jones said. “If you return and have a look at all of the finals I’ve been in, I’d say I played well in them, we just didn’t win. That’s it.

On a team with many future Hall of Famers, Jones was the team’s top performer within the 2023 playoffs. Ultimately, it would not be enough.

“Winning another championship and losing is always motivating. I think we did a lot of good things last year. We just needed a little bit more,” Jones said.

This season has seen a major difference in Liberty’s consistency on the court. The band used their chemistry to rework from a gaggle of interconnected stars right into a harmonious whole. Combine that with the will to return to the Finals, and the result was a Liberty squad that played as title favorite for a lot of the season.

“Our team had a year to really grow, understand and build,” Jones said. “What now we have in common is the experience of attending to the championship and losing, after which having the hunger to exit on the pitch and make a call about how we approach the match – that (losing in the ultimate) had no impact on happening again.

“We still have a job to do. … We understand it will be a struggle, but together we have been through a lot, we have built each other up and become much stronger.”

For Jones, this season was a return to her old self. Jones spent much of last season recovering from a foot injury.

“What really helped me this year was just playing basketball, getting back on track and being healthy,” Jones said.

“I think he’s just getting comfortable and I think it’s going to take time,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “She has been injured for six months and it is difficult for her emotionally and physically. It started working towards the end, but then it was about how I could recover and be better from day one. She was huge for us.”

This season, Jones was chosen to her fifth All-Star game. For Liberty, she averaged 14.2 points, 9.0 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and a career-best 3.2 assists.

When asked if she sees a way of urgency in Jones this 12 months and her pursuit of the title, Vandersloot replied that there is no noticeable difference because Jones has at all times carried the identical championship energy along with her.

“I don’t necessarily see anything different because she’s always approached every season like she wants to win a championship for as long as I’ve known her,” said Vandersloot, who played with Jones overseas before they became teammates at Liberty. “Of course, I feel just a little little bit of experience will assist in this case. He knows what it’s prefer to be on this group, but he approaches it the identical.”

Like Jones, forward Breanna Stewart and Vandersloot will make their fourth Finals appearance – a feat achieved by only 29 other players in WNBA history. Stewart won two championships with the Seattle Storm, and Vandersloot won a championship with the Chicago Sky. All three wish to win their first title since joining forces in New York last season to form an excellent team.

Vandersloot said she would like to see Jones fight for her first title.

“Especially the three of us, we colluded to come here and be in this exact situation and make JJ be her first. Stewie and I knew what it was like and of course you always want more,” Vandersloot said. “(JJ) put in the time. She got involved in the work. She became MVP. All her individual career successes. Getting there is huge for her.”

Keenly aware that it is often possible that one other likelihood on the championships won’t ever come, Jones knows that point should never be wasted when she makes it to the finals as a right – whether she wins or not. While Jones said there’s some frustration in reaching the ultimate lap multiple times a season after which ending up wanting it, she knows greater than most what the finish line looks like.

She hopes to perform that this season.

“I understand it’s a marathon, not a sprint,” Jones said again, this time through the shootaround before the primary game. “You go out there and try to do whatever the team needs to win.”