WNBA Hoopers Hierarchy: No. 28-30 Brionna Jones, Kayla McBride and Kelsey Mitchell are steady vets for their teams (2024)

Editor’s Note: This is one of a series of stories ranking the top 30 players in the WNBA as part of Quickbooks’ “WNBA Hoopers Hierarchy.” Check out the rest of the rankings here.

Rounding out the WNBA Hoopers Hierarchy, Swish Appeal’s ranking of the top 30 players in the WNBA in 2024, are three veteran players who’ve long been steady hands for their teams: the Connecticut Sun’s Brionna Jones, the Minnesota Lynx’s Kayla McBride and the Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell.

No. 28 Brionna Jones

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Brionna Jones, who is in her eighth season with the Connecticut Sun, should end up being one of the top post players in the league this year if she can return to pre-injury form and stay healthy. Jones, a 6-foot-3 power forward, enjoyed a breakout season in 2021 when she was named an All-Star for the first time and awarded the Most Improved Player award. That season, she made tremendous defensive leaps as well, also being named to the WNBA All-Defensive Second Team.

She followed that up with another All-Star selection in 2022, and was well on her way to a third-consecutive selection when she ruptured her Achilles just 13 games into the 2023 season. Jones is back and healthy this season, but she’s played limited minutes in the opening weeks as she works her way back into game rhythm. At her best, Jones is an All-Star post player and one of the league’s premier defenders. She’s crafty down low, and has become an increasingly strong rebounder. If she’s able to stay on the court this season, the Sun should be a force to be reckoned with.

“We had to pivot last year with her going out,” Alyssa Thomas said on Media Day. “Before she got hurt, we really started hitting our stride and understanding our offense.” Rebounding was a particular weakness of the Sun last season, and Jones should help in that department; she averaged 8.2 rebounds last year before going down.

As one of Connecticut’s veterans, Jones leads with kindness, her teammates have maintained. “Bri is the sweet one,” teammate DiJonai Carrington said. “We love when Bri comes in to correct us. It’s the best.” And as she acclimates back into game shape, she’s not particularly concerned about her own individual stats or role on this roster. “I just like to win,” Jones said. “Whatever that means is different every year. Whatever the team needs for me, I just want to be that person.”

No. 29 Kayla McBride

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Kayla McBride has been one of the league’s most reliable double-figure scorers since she was drafted in 2014. A 5-foot-11 guard who can consistently shoot the 3, she’s never averaged less than 12.5 points in a season, and for her career, she’s hit better than 36 percent of her attempts from downtown. For years, she’s been one of the league’s most deadly knockdown shooters. McBride began her career in San Antonio, spending seven years with the franchise that eventually became the Aces before signing with the Minnesota Lynx in 2021.

She’s coming off a dominant EuroLeague Women season, where she won the Final Four MVP and helped lead her team, the Turkish club Fenerbahçe, to a second-straight EuroLeague Women championship. Getting over the hump and winning it all was a big hurdle to overcome; in college, she led Notre Dame to four consecutive Final Fours and three NCAA championship appearances, but was never able to win the championship. “I am super proud and couldn’t care less about the Final Four MVP as long as we have this trophy,” McBride said last month of winning it all.

Minnesota was not expected to be in the mix to win the WNBA title season, but the Lynx have enjoyed a surprisingly strong start to the year, and McBride has been a big reason why. In her 11th season, she’ll look to continue a storied WNBA career; the three-time All Star (2015, 2018, 2019) is one of only 11 players in league history with at least 4,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 500 3-pointers made in her career.

No. 30 Kelsey Mitchell

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Kelsey Mitchell, another one of the league’s top 3-point shooters, is coming off of her first All-Star appearance, which came in her seventh season with the Indiana Fever.

Mitchell is one of the league’s purest scorers; her 2.5 3-pointers made per game ranked fourth-most in the WNBA, with only the New York Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu shooting a better percentage on that volume. The 5-foot-8 guard shot 39.8 percent from 3 and 44.8 percent overall en route to averaging 18.2 points per game in 2023. She’s now averaged at least 17.8 points per game in four-consecutive seasons, and is shooting 84 percent from the line for her career.

The question for Mitchell has been how to translate her individual success into team success in Indiana. The Fever have never made the playoffs in her tenure, and while there was hope that this year, with the addition of No. 1 overall draft pick Caitlin Clark, that things could change, it’s been a tough start to the season so far. On an individual level, Mitchell has also seen both her production and minutes drop as she makes her return from offseason injury. Already, however, as the season progresses, she’s begun to increase both her defensive and offensive aggression.

Mitchell noted earlier this season she felt that the Fever didn’t yet have an identity. “It’s something that we’re trying to establish,” Mitchell said. “We’re trying to establish who we’re going to be. Unfortunately for us, the world has already deemed what they deemed for us—how we’re supposed to play, how we’re supposed to look.”

But regardless of the the ups and downs of this Fever season, Mitchell has a long track record of being a prolific scorer. As a freshman at Ohio State, she scored 873 points, the second-most by a freshmen in NCAA Division I history. She ultimately finished her career with 3,402 points, which was second most all-time at the time among all women’s Division I college players. If the Fever can make Mitchell, Clark and Aliyah Boston work, the team could come together and instill a culture of winning.