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The importance of Jonquel Jones has never been more evident than over the two-plus weeks when she’s been sidelined by an ankle sprain. 

Jones is the glue of the Liberty on both ends of the floor. Without her, their play looks out of sorts. 

Offensively, the Liberty have managed to make do without Jones, for the most part. They’re getting plenty of good looks and still lead the league in points per game, though possessions, at times, can lag. 

Defensively, though, is where the Liberty missed Jones most. 

She is, in a lot of ways, the air traffic controller of the paint and the team’s best rim protector. 

The Liberty’s defensive rating when Jones is on the court is 83.7, but when she’s on the sidelines, it balloons to 102.6, per WNBA advanced stats. 

Jones said this week she was upset that her ankle injury derailed her All-Star campaign. But there’s no doubt in Sandy Brondello’s mind that Jones, when healthy, has been one of the league’s best players. 

“Look JJ, I think you see when you look at someone, [do] they also have an impact on their team? And you see that she has a very big impact on our team,” Brondello said. “She was playing great. She’s just this comfort blanket. For me, she’s an All-Star.” 

It’s still unclear when Jones might be cleared to play. The Liberty said June 21 that she’d be out for 4-6 weeks. 

Breanna Stewart wasn’t happy with the way she started the season, especially when it came to her rebounding efforts. 

Stewart had three or fewer rebounds in four of the team’s first eight games. To put it bluntly, Stewart said her rebounding “wasn’t up to my standard.” 

But as of late, especially with the Liberty missing Jones, Stewart has been far more aggressive in that area. 

Stewart notched her third double-double this season Thursday, recording 17 points and a season-high 14 rebounds. 

Over the last five games, Stewart is averaging 9.4 boards per game. 

“I want to clean up everything for my teammates and really getting back to that standard of just being aggressive on the boards, even on the offensive end,” Stewart said. “It’s hard. It’s hard when you have to box out the other teams on defense and I want them to feel that same pressure.” 

Might Unrivaled co-founders and UConn alumni Stewart and Napheesa Collier team up at All-Star weekend later this month? 

Stewart didn’t rule out the possibility that a backroom, handshake deal has already been made with Collier. 

“I know things that you don’t,” she quipped. “So that’s all I got to say.”