(Associated Press photo)
Former UConn star Asjha Jones will sit out the 2013 WNBA season
due to nagging injuries. She has been one of the team's most productive
players since being traded from Washington in 2004.

Asjha Jones, one of the cornerstones of the Connecticut Sun franchise in the last decade, announced that she will be sitting out the 2013 season due to some nagging injuries.

“I am sorry to announce that I will miss the 2013 WNBA season due to injuries,” Jones said in a statement. “I do not feel like I would be fit and ready to play this summer, and I did not think that would be fair to coach (Anne) Donovan or to the Connecticut Sun organization, which has treated me so well over the past nine seasons. I wish the team a great season in 2013 and look forward to returning in 2014.”


Jones missed 14 regular-season games during the 2012 season with a strained Achilles tendon and has been dealing a series of minor injuries in recent seasons. Jones only missed seven regular-season games in her first five seasons, including playing her first two seasons in Washington but she has missed 29 in the last four seasons.


“It’s disappointing to hear that Asjha will not be back with the team this season,” Donovan said in a statement. “But I am confident in the ability of the players we do have returning, and I am looking forward to a great year.”

Since being acquired by the Sun in 2004, Jones has played 271 games and she is second all time in Sun history with 3,336 points and 1,447 rebounds.

Jones allowed UConn to make history by having Huskies selected with four of the top six picks in the 2002 WNBA draft. However, she joins Sue Bird as members of that historic group to announce that she will not be playing this season due to injuries.