The Connecticut Sun almost are back.
After a lengthy break for the WNBA All-Star Game and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the league’s unofficial second half of the season tips off Thursday with quite the headliner.
The Sun, who sit atop the Eastern Conference, will face the West’s No. 1 Seattle Storm for the inaugural Commissioner’s Cup.
“Whoever wins this game definitely gets bragging rights and we’re probably gonna see them in the playoffs as well so this is a very important game,” Sun star Jonquel Jones said of the matchup in a video posted by the WNBA on Monday.
The Commissioner’s Cup finalists were determined in a regular season tournament in which the Sun and Storm came out on top.
Jonquel Jones, the odds-on favorite to win the MVP, played in just one of Connecticut’s two games against Seattle so far this season and looks forward to the challenge. Especially the tall task of guarding Breanna Stewart, who is her teammate overseas with the Russian club UMMC Ekaterinburg.
“I’m looking forward to it, I think it’s gonna be super fun,” Jonquel Jones said. “I’m excited for it, especially to be part of the first Commissioner’s Cup Championship? That’s an honor, that’s a privilege, but it’s something that we’ve worked hard towards and we deserve to be there.”
The Sun have shown the rest of the WNBA they aren’t messing around again this season, producing three All-Stars who led Team WNBA in taking down Team USA at the All-Star Game in July.
Still, the pressure of the Commissioner’s Cup will help prepare them for another deep playoff run.
“There’s a little bit of pressure, but I think we’re gonna use that pressure to fuel us,” All-Star Brionna Jones said. “I think it’s about using that pressure to make us better and for us to improve and lean into that pressure and continue to grow. So I think we’re going to take that pressure and use it to our success, use it to our advantage going into this Commissioner’s Cup game.”
The championship game will be aired exclusively on Prime Video on Thursday at 9 p.m. ET live from the Footprint Center in Phoenix.
