It certainly looked like Jonquel Jones hurt her ankle Tuesday night during the New York Liberty's game against the Chicago Sky, Jones, who has dealt with ankle injuries before, appeared to trip. She exited the game, and much to the worry of fans, did not return.
Losing Jones at this point in the season, even for a handful of games, could be a fatal blow to the Liberty, who are still battling their way toward clinching their spot in the 2026 WNBA Playoffs. There's a bit of a silver lining: the WNBA will take a two-week break at the end of August for the FIBA World Cup. If Jones is still nursing the injury at that point, the break could give her a bit of wiggle room in terms of healing and being ready to help New York close out the rest of the regular season.
But first things first. The Liberty have yet to confirm just how serious the injury might be. She previously suffered a right ankle sprain in 2025, an injury that transpired during a game against the Phoenix Mercury. The Liberty also said at the time that the injury could have been significantly worse. She underwent surgery in October of the same year, and the ankle had seemed to be okay this season.
If anyone is acutely aware of what the loss of Jones could mean for the Liberty, it's her teammate Breanna Stewart.
"It’s tough. Obviously, we hope JJ will be back quickly but honestly I think Han stepped up to the challenge pretty well. Cardoso is a tough guard and um she continued to kind of provide length on her," Stewart said. She also insisted the team has been through injuries "too many times" and needs to work together to find ways to deal with the immediate challenge that comes with losing a player unexpectedly because they're hurt.
That's definitely a salient lesson, especially since the Liberty lost the game 93-86.
Injuries have pushed head coach Chris DeMarco to rely more on Han Xu and Pauline Astier as the Liberty doggedly continues their season trek. Xu, who stepped in for Jones after the injury, put up 12 points and 7 rebounds by the end of the night — a performance that helped, even if the game didn't go the way the Liberty hoped it might.
New York is set to host the Indiana Fever Saturday.
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