‘We just had a great story’
Sun fall short of Finals, but proud of season in bubble
Jasmine Thomas believes.
The Sun point guard, a few minutes into her postgame media session following a 66-63 loss in Game 5 of Connecticut’s WNBA semifinals series with Las Vegas on Tuesday, was asked by a reporter whether she had a message for the fans back home.
“We are right there,” she said after thanking them for their dedication and enthusiasm. “We were really close to almost putting ourselves back in the Finals with a very different looking team. We just appreciate that they’re with us.
We’re going to win a championship, for sure.”
She didn’t say when. Or how. Or where.
But what Thomas did say — aside from her guarantee — is that they grew in ways that’ll help them next season and beyond.
And, if you’re the Sun, you can’t talk about next season without getting excited about Jonquel Jones’ return. Jones, who was third in MVP voting last season, is expected back after opting out of the 2020 campaign due to COVID-19 concerns.
“We know what kind of player JJ is,” Thomas said. “She’s able to be dominant on both sides of the ball. She brings back that stretch post position to us, someone who can really shoot the ball from the post position, open up some of our spacing, give us length on defense, rebounding. She’s a rebounding machine.
“With us being able to get some of this chemistry and being able to get some of these kinks out now, that’ll be a smoother transition just having JJ back.”
The Sun went all-in last offseason, trading for veterans — DeWanna Bonner, Briann January and Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis — with championship pedigrees, and while they didn’t land that elusive first title, they reaffirmed the organization’s belief that the arrow is firmly pointing up.
“I hope everyone saw that we came together as a unit, as a team,” Bonner said. “It wasn’t easy here in the bubble at all. But for us to make Game 5 of the WNBA semifinals … it just shows the group that we had. How we came together and persevered — that 0-5 start — we just had a great story.”
Bonner, a three-time All-Star, said she didn’t know what to expect after coming over from Phoenix, where she had played her first 10
seasons and starred alongside Diana Taurasi. But her transition proved relatively seamless. She tied for third in the league in points (19.7) and minutes (33.3) per game during the regular season and was the team’s secondleading scorer during the playoffs.
“I can definitely say this is the happiest I’ve been on the court with a group of girls,” she said. “We’re really, really close. I think it’s credit to the bubble.
“It was a great season. Unfortunately, we came up short from the goal that we had in mind, but we’ll be back. We’ll back with the same group and hopefully JJ.”
Head coach and general manager Curt Miller wasn’t
interested in looking ahead because the loss to Las Vegas was still too raw, too painful. Two starters — Jasmine Thomas and Alyssa Thomas — are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents and should draw plenty of interest.
His focus, instead, was on looking back.
“They get to leave here with a platform to really be an agent of change and use their voices and be able to do some special things,” Miller said of his players. “It’s pretty special to watch that group come together. I’m proud that we got 18 extra days here in the playoffs and really got to get their names and get them back into people’s living rooms. I’m telling you, I’m very fortunate to coach a great group.”