HARTFORD, Conn. — Former UConn women’s basketball player Asjha Jones is furthering her impressive ascent in her post-playing career.
Jones is leaving the Washington Mystics, for whom she most recently served as an assistant coach, to join the Portland Trail Blazers as their director of basketball strategy, the Mystics announced Wednesday.
Jones has had an illustrious career as a player and a coach. She is the only person to win an NCAA title (2000, 2002) and WNBA championship (2015 with Minnesota) as a player, a WNBA championship as an assistant coach (2019 with Washington) and a gold medal as a Team USA player in the world championships (2010) and Olympics (2012).
Jones was drafted by the Mystics in 2002 with the No. 4 overall pick before spending the majority of her career playing for the Connecticut Sun under Mike Thibault. After Thibault left to coach the Mystics, Jones joined his staff in 2017 as a player development assistant before the franchise elevated her to an assistant coach in December of 2019. Thibault and Jones led Washington to a WNBA title over the Sun in 2019.
“Asjha has been an important part of our success the past several years. While I am sad to see her leave on both a professional and personal level, I am excited for her and the opportunity in front of her in Portland,” Thibault said in a statement. “She will be a tremendous asset to the Trail Blazers organization.
“I have known Asjha since I first began coaching her in Connecticut in 2004, and she is one of the best all-around pros, on and off the court, that I have had the pleasure to be associated with.”
Jones joins former UConn teammate and WNBA star Swin Cash in taking an NBA front office job. Cash was hired in June 2019 as vice president of basketball operations and team development for the New Orleans Pelicans. Their teammate, four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird, also had a part-time NBA gig with the Denver Nuggets two years ago, helping with scouting and other basketball-operations activities. Tamika Williams, the other member of UConn’s vaulted 2002 graduating class, also got into coaching, most recently serving as an a women’s basketball assistant at Ohio State.
“So happy for her, so sad for us ... the unsung hero anywhere she’s ever been,” tweeted Eric Thibault, an assistant with the Mystics. “And now a new challenge and a great opportunity out west!”
