Chicago last stop on Liberty’s ‘revenge’ tour

Jonquel Jones enjoyed a successful first encounter against her former Connecticut Sun teammates at Downtown’s Barclays Center last Saturday.

Breanna Stewart celebrated her return to Seattle in MVP fashion Tuesday night.

Now, all that’s left for Brooklyn’s gaudy offseason haul of new acquisitions is Courtney Vandersloot’s first visit to Chicago on Friday night as the streaking Liberty shoot for their fourth straight win and a perfect 3-0 run through the reunion portion of their early season schedule.

“We were joking in the locker room about it being a revenge tour,” New York point guard Sabrina Ionescu said after the Liberty toppled the Storm, 86-78, behind Stewart’s 25-point effort in the Emerald City.

“Because now we’re going to Chicago and we’re about to experience the same thing with Sloot, but I think it’s just understanding where they’re coming from and being there for them.”

Vandersloot, a 2021 WNBA champion, four-time All-Star and the league’s all-time assists leader during her 12-year tenure with the Sky (3-2), has fit in alongside Ionescu to form a dynamic backcourt in Brooklyn.

The 34-year-old former first-round pick admitted last month as the Liberty (3-1) opened training camp at Barclays Center that she had plenty of reasons not to leave Chicago.

Foremost, her mother Jan’s cancer diagnosis.

“I found out at the end of July, that’s when the diagnosis came through and you know it was obviously completely out of the blue,” Vandersloot said.

“I was shocked. There was every emotion you can imagine and just the unknown,” she added. “I’ve been fortunate with the people around me, I’ve never experienced something like this.”