Jonquel Jones set to return from ankle injury in major Liberty boost

The Liberty have a defensive stalwart returning just in time.

Jonquel Jones will be active on Tuesday for their game against the Dream at Barclays Center, coach Sandy Brondello confirmed at Monday’s practice.

There will be no minutes restriction on the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP, and she got in reps with the team for a portion of the practice.

“JJ is going to be back tomorrow, and we’ll go from there,” Brondello said. “… She did live play, so we just took her out near the end [of practice]. Once we got over an hour, that was enough. She got enough of what we needed, and we will get her ready for tomorrow.”

Jones suffered a right ankle sprain against the Mystics on June 5.

She only played six minutes of the game, rolling her ankle under the basket before being helped off the court.

She went on to miss two games, including the Liberty’s first loss of the season, to the Fever on Saturday, after a franchise-best 9-0 start.

It will be a huge boost to the Liberty, who were without both Jones and Leonie Fiebich — the latter is playing for Germany in this year’s Eurobasket.

With the two starters missing, the defense was hurting against the Fever, who sank 17 3-pointers and scored an alarming 102 points over the Liberty.

The 31-year-old, five-time All-Star will be key to have back against the Dream, who pose a big challenge with Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones under the rim.

“There’s funky lineups,” Sabrina Ionescu said of Saturday’s game. “With two starters down, obviously, you could see it was a little bit rusty and not as fluid. And that’s part of what happens when you lose two big pieces to your offense and defense in Leo and JJ. It was a great learning opportunity to figure out how we can continue to build chemistry with everyone on the team.”

Jones is averaging 13.9 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.3 blocks per game this season while shooting 47.8 percent from the field. She is also shooting 42.9 percent from beyond the arc, which is a significant jump from 2024 (38.8 percent).