Connecticut Sun post Brionna Jones has wanted to play more minutes during her young WNBA career.

Jones will get all the time she wants and deserves this season.

Sun starter Jonquel Jones opted out of this season due to her concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving a huge hole in the post for Connecticut.

Brionna Jones is sad that Jonquel Jones won’t be around this summer, but it gives her all the opportunity she could ask for to both play and prove her worth this season.

“It’s going to be tough without JJ,” Brionna Jones said, “but I’m excited to get a chance to get more minutes on the court and show how successful I can be compared to how I play overseas, and trying to bring that over here and get a chance to show that.”

Jones, the eighth overall pick of the 2017 WNBA Draft, has averaged eight minutes over 77 regular season games over her first three seasons. Minutes are hard to come by playing behind Jonquel Jones, one of the league’s top posts who earned All-WNBA second team honors in 2017 and 2019.

“We have a really great team and really great players that I’m playing behind, but I think I expected to be playing a little more,” Brionna Jones said. “I think the minutes I’ve got; I did my job and did the things they asked me to. I just try to show what I can do in the time I’ve got.”

Jones is still young (she’ll turn 25 in December), and some players develop slower than others.

“A lot of times in this league what it takes for players is an injury or situation to really create an opportunity for a player,” Sun head coach and general manager Curt Miller said. “She’s a tremendous teammate and she’s bided her time, so I’m excited for her to have this opportunity to have more significant and consistent minutes on a nightly basis.”

The WNBA is scheduled to start an abbreviated season later this month at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Jones had a doubly frustrating night in her last game with the Sun. They led the fifth and final game of the WNBA Finals with six minutes left when the Washington Mystics overtook them and won, 89-78, on Oct. 10, 2019. Jones had three fouls to two points in six minutes in that game.

Jones had little time to dwell on it as five days later, she was in Riga, Latvia playing for ZVVZ USK Praha of the Czech Republic in the star-studded FIBA EuroLeague Women.

“After we finished the finals, we went back to Connecticut and packed up our stuff, then had a day there,” Jones said. “I went home (to Maryland), dropped some stuff off, and repacked. Then two days (later) I left to go overseas, and the day that I landed (Oct. 15), that was my first practice with the team. Then we played the next day.”

Jones paused and chuckled, “Yeah, that was a quick turnaround.”

Jones started her first game and had 12 points and four rebounds in 31 minutes of a 73-66 win over TTT Riga.

It was the start of the best professional season of Jones’ career. She made 18 of 25 field goals for a game-high 40 points and 14 rebounds in a 141-34 rout over Loko Trutnov in a ZBL game, the Czech women’s league.

Jones finished as the ZBL’s leading-scorer (32.2), almost 13 points better than the runner-up. She also averaged a league-high 11.2 rebounds.

The EuroLeague was an even better example of Jones’ season because so many of the world’s best players take part in it. She was ninth overall in scoring (15.6 ppg) and sixth in rebounding (8.1) as she helped ZVVZ USK Praha to the league’s second-best record (12-2) and a quarterfinal berth before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The only team that beat ZVVVZ during the EuroLeague season was defending champion UMMC Ekaterinburg, winners of four of the last seven titles. The Russian superpower had a roster that was the equivalent of an All-WNBA team starring the likes of Brittney Griner, Jonquel Jones, Emma Meesseman (who earned 2019 Finals MVP honors for the Washington Mystics), Allie Quigley, Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot.

Jones earned herself All-EuroLeague Women second-team honors alongside the likes of former UConn standout Gabby Williams, Griner and Vandersloot. She also finished fourth in the coaches’ voting amongst frontcourt players and was fifth overall (media and fans also took part in voting).

The only player that had a better season on ZVVK was Jones’ Sun teammate, Alyssa Thomas. Thomas led the league in rebounding (11.4 rpg) and steals, was third in scoring (18.3 ppg) and averaged 4.2 assists.

Thomas finished as the Defensive Player of the Year, earned All-EuroLeague Women first-team honors, and was second in the MVP voting. She was first in the coaches voting for MVP and second by the media but was hurt by finishing 12th in the fan vote.

“(Jones) was a monster overseas,” Thomas said during an interview last month. “She hasn't seen a lot of time in her career, and finally she'll have the opportunity to be on the floor. I think a lot of people will be surprised with what she can do. I'm just excited for her to have this opportunity.”

n.griffen@theday.com