Connecticut Sun become first team to have four players selected to WNBA All-Defensive Teams
The Connecticut Sun’s 2021 regular season has been a historic one, and Sunday, they made history once again.
According to Across the Timeline, the Sun are the first WNBA team to have four players selected to either of the two WNBA All-Defensive teams: Jonquel Jones and Briann January were first team selections while Jasmine Thomas and Brionna Jones earned second team recognition.
The squads were rounded out by Phoenix’s Brianna Turner, Minnesota’s Sylvia Fowles and Los Angeles’ Britney Sykes for first team, followed by Seattle’s Breanna Stewart, Phoenix’s Brittney Griner and Washington’s Ariel Atkins on second team. Fowles was named Defensive Player of the Year, earning 31 of 49 votes, with Jonquel Jones and Turner tying for third with four votes and both Thomas and January earning one each.
The Sun’s outsized representation on the all-defensive teams was hardly surprising. Their defensive rating of 91.7 is the best of any WNBA team since 2007, and Connecticut held opponents to 70 or fewer points in 18 of its 32 games.
Jonquel Jones led the WNBA in defensive rebounds this year with 8.7 per game. This is her second All-Defensive First Team nod in two seasons (Jones opted out of the 2020 WNBA campaign). January, widely considered the best two-guard defender in the league, made All-Defensive First Team for the fifth time (2012, 2014-16, 2021) while earning second team recognition in 2013 and 2017. Thomas has been named to an all-defensive team five times (first team in 2017-2019, second team in 2016 and 2021). Brionna Jones, a Most Improved Player candidate coming off her first All-Star bid, made her first appearance on an all-defensive team this season.
Alexa Philippou can be reached at aphilippou@courant.com.
