For New York Liberty center Jonquel Jones, the 2024 WNBA Finals were her fourth shot at a championship that had proven to be maddeningly elusive.
Jones had previously competed for a title in the 2019, 2022, and 2023 Finals but had come up short each time. She knew she had to change something in order for her to shed her also-ran status.
So she went out and won the 2024 WNBA Finals MVP, leading the Liberty to their first ever championship in 27 years of existence.
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That turned out to be a good plan.
Jones imposed her dominance in every contest of New York’s dramatic five-game series win over the Minnesota Lynx, averaging 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting a sizzling 56 percent from the floor.
What’s more, she saved the best for last, contributing 17 points and six rebounds to the winner take all Game 5 clincher, where the Liberty emerged victorious 67-62 in overtime. Jones stepped up at just the right time, too, as the other links in New York’s superstar triumvirate, Brianna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu, endured shooting slumps over the last two games of the Finals.
After earning the Finals MVP trophy, Jones was equal parts ebullient and relieved.
“Y’all know my story, y’all know how many times I’ve been denied it,” she told a thunderous Barclays Center crowd, “But it was delayed. That’s all it was. I’m so happy to do it here.”
This was one instance where the delay just made the ending all the sweeter.
The MVP award marked a milestone in Jones’ career, as she’s had to force her way into the spotlight at every opportunity—and not because she has lacked on-court skills.
Throughout her career with the Liberty and the Connecticut Sun, she had been named the 2021 WNBA MVP, 2023 Commissioner’s Cup MVP, and a five-time All Star.
However, her success came with their own set of struggles.
Because Jones is a Black lesbian woman, she has had to fight for the media attention and endorsement deals at every step of the way that straight and white players receive with comparatively less effort.
In February of 2022, Jones’ patience with systemic inequalities in landing endorsements ran out and she took to Twitter to vent.
She went further, adding: “Not to mention me being a Black lesbian woman. Lord the seats disappearing from the table as I speak.”
For her efforts, she did manage to land a State Farm commercial that year, playing off her height compared to the NBA’s Trey Young and Boban Marjanovic.
It took a lot for Jones to be comfortable enough with her queer identity to speak about it publicly. Growing up in the Bahamas amid a community that told her “there were things that little girls weren’t supposed to do,” she had a secret girlfriend in high school but went back in the closet during her college years.
Even in her first few years in the WNBA, she tried to present as more traditionally feminine, wearing dresses to the draft and her first All Star Game.
“When I look at those pictures, I cringe because I know it wasn’t me. I was trying too hard to be something I wasn’t,” she confessed.
Gradually, Jones publicly embraced her true self, came out to her family, and became more comfortable dressing in ways that felt more natural to her.
This spring, she got to show off her personal style at fashion’s biggest night – the 2025 Met Gala.
“Sometimes you have to let the fashion speak,” she proudly captioned a slideshow of photos dressed to the nines for the star-studded event.
Jones is also winning in her personal life.
In 2023, she went public with her engagement to her partner Nesha, owner of The Dollhouse Nail Company in Brooklyn.
At the time, Jones wrote, “Thanks for loving me on my lowest days and being there for me through it all. You get my humor. You get my moods, you get it all.”
And with a stellar career and gorgeous relationship, Jones is enjoying having it all too.
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