Atlanta Dream forward Brionna Jones has been out and about in Atlanta. It’s her second year in the city, and she continues to explore the neighborhoods and attractions.
When people in Atlanta see her out and about, they always ask her the same question.
“Everywhere I go, I hear it, and people ask me, ‘When are you going to come back?’” Jones said before the Dream’s game Monday night. “I definitely feel it, and I definitely want to get out there and be able to help this team the best way I can. But I just want to be back 100 percent healthy.”
Jones finally has an answer for when she is returning to the lineup for those fans — and that’s tonight.
Sources told The IX Sports that Jones will make her debut on July 16 in Toronto ahead of the Atlanta Dream’s second-to-last game before the All-Star break in the team’s third matchup against the Tempo this year.
Jones has missed the entire first half of the season after suffering a meniscus injury in the offseason while playing overseas.
“Bri looks good,” said teammate Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, who played with Jones in Maryland and last year with the Dream. “Not to say too much, but she looks really good. I’m excited to see her back.”
A source familiar with the situation told The IX Sports that the plan is to have Jones play around 15 minutes upon her return to the team.
Last week, when Jones was upgraded from “out” to “doubtful” for the first time this season, The IX Sports asked Dream head coach Karl Smesko if the plan was to ramp her up upon her return.
“I’m sure it’s something like that where there will be limited minutes or something,” Smesko told us. “Nobody’s given me the actual breakdown on the plan of what it’ll be. I doubt it’ll be from nothing to no limit. Although I could be wrong. Like, I think usually in these situations there’s a ramp-up, as you say. But I can tell you that we can’t wait to get her back.”
Smesko, in every media session he’s been asked about Jones from his arrival last year, to his All-Star push for her last year, to her sitting out the first half of the season this year.
In every answer, he utters the same phrase: top-10 player.
“I think we’re adding one of the top 10 players in the league, in my opinion,” Smesko told The IX Sports. “It’ll be really nice to have her back. We’re all excited that she’s been out there working out and practicing, and she looks good.”
The first inkling that Jones was nearing a return to the lineup came 10 days ago at practice. Jones was taking part in practice as a full participant as a member of the scout team, assuming the role of Ezi Magbegor before the Dream and the Storm faced off.
Sources told The IX Sports that the plan for Jones was to return before the All-Star break, with the circled date being July 13.
Instead, she’s back on July 16 in Toronto for her season debut.
“Right now, my biggest goal is just get out there and be 100 percent healthy,” Jones said. “I think that’s my biggest goal at the moment. And once we get past that first milestone, then I can start thinking about the things.”
Jones’ return comes at an interesting time for the Dream. They started off the season red hot, living up to the expectations that were put upon them by returning all of their starters and bringing in two-time All-Star Angel Reese.
But over the last couple of weeks, the Dream have struggled, losing six of their last eight games — including being swept on the West Coast by the Golden State Valkyries and Seattle Storm.
“I’ve said this earlier that the second quarter of the season is the hardest quarter of the season right before you go into All-Star,” Angel Reese said. “It leaves you a feel of what it’s going to feel like after that. Some teams relax, and we are working on figuring it out. We are going to figure it out.”
Jones saw the struggles from the bench firsthand. Despite working out daily with the team’s medical staff and going through practices as a full participant, Jones was trusting the doctors to let her know when she was ready.
“I want to get out there to be able to help the team more than just using my voice on the bench,” Jones said. “But I’m still trying to make sure I’m doing everything right. Making sure that the doctor clears me and doing everything in my power to be 100 percent healthy.”
Jones said that as of Monday night, she felt that she was “80 to 90 percent ready” to be back out there.
It’s why the ramp-up is necessary for her, not just for her physical health but for the mental side of it, as well.
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“Physically, all of the doctors and trainers have done a really good job of making sure that I’m hitting every milestone, every goal that I need to hit,” Jones explained, “and then mentally, we also have a sports psychologist to talk to.”
Jones told The IX Sports in an exclusive interview earlier this season that she knew the injury that she suffered was unlike any of her previous injuries.
“I knew it was something different. I could tell from how it happened, but it felt like it wasn’t an ACL injury,” Jones said. “I knew that. I swole up a little bit, and I was like, ‘Yeah, it’s probably gonna be a little more than like a hyper extension,’ but I definitely knew it wasn’t an ACL.”
Being that Jones has had these types of injuries before, she knows the work that goes into it on both the physical and the mental side.
“This has probably been my third biggest injury, so I kind of understand the process of testing my body and what it takes to get back mentally,” Jones said.
The plan for Jones, per sources with knowledge, is to ramp her up with a minutes limit upon her return before eventually returning her to the starting lineup. She’ll take over the center position, allowing Reese to move back to her natural power forward position.
When Jones returns to the starting lineup, it’ll push Naz Hillmon to the second unit.
“I’m really excited for Bri to be back on the court,” Hillmon told The IX Sports over the weekend. “Obviously, we saw what she’s been able to do throughout the entirety of her career, but last year here, in Atlanta, with her presence and the gravity that she has. I’m really excited about it. I know everybody is, as well, and I think it’ll be a great addition to so many great things that we have on our team.”
An area where Jones can help immediately is with the Dream’s interior defense. Last year, with Brittney Griner on the team, the Dream averaged 4.5 blocks per game, ranking No. 4 in the league in the category. This year, the Dream rank last in the league with just 2.8 blocks per contest.
What’s more, the Dream’s interior defense ranked No. 1 in the league last year in opponents’ shooting percentage from zero to five feet. This year, the team ranks No. 11.
Atlanta is ready to have its defensive anchor back.
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“I think in just about every press conference that I ever talk about her, I talk about how underrated she is, and that she’s one of the best players and best post players in the league,” Smesko said. “To get her back is going to be a huge boost to us.”
One element that Smesko knows Jones excels at is communicating. He mentioned before the Dream’s last game that the communication can’t only come from one or two players — being Hillmon and Jones — but everyone.
It’s a role that Jones took on and was able to maintain while she was in street clothes.
“I was just seeing things that we can work on, things that I know I can bring to help the team, and just being able to stay in people’s ears and be able to give my experience and help that way,” Jones explained. “It’s just little things that I’ve seen as we’ve been going through this tough stretch.”
Jones knows that she may not be her All-Star self upon her initial return, but she’s going to be able to build up to it.
She’s looking to help right the ship in the second half of the season for the Dream, but she’s setting her own expectations from the jump.
“I think expectation-wise for myself, just being able to get out there and be in the right spot, do what I do in the post, make my presence known in the post as I have in the past, and just be that inside-outside game for the team,” Jones explained. “But personally, it’s just getting out there, being healthy and getting back to playing like myself as fast as I can.”
It’ll be nearly 10 months to the date since fans last saw Jones on the court wearing a Dream jersey.
It took time to get here, but there’s a reason that the saying is “good things come to those who wait.”
