PHILADELPHIA — Derrick Jones Jr. has followed basketball to a lot of places since growing up in Marcus Hook. Six NBA cities, a couple of tours of the G League, spots just about everywhere in the hierarchy of the NBA ecosystem. Jones has paid his dues.
Save for the 10 family members in attendance Sunday night and the basket of crab fries waiting at his locker, the stop at the Wells Fargo Center was just another one on the schedule for the 27-year-old. That kind of same-old mentality may be part of what has helped him withstand the ups and downs of life in the league.
“I always approach every game the same way,” the Archbishop Carroll grad said before starting for the Clippers in a 125-99 humiliation of the Sixers. “I go out there and give it everything I’ve got. Banged up, not banged up, if I’m there on the floor, I’m going to give it everything I have. And that’s just how I’ve always been.”
That mentality has held since Jones was undrafted after a single season at UNLV, through stops in Phoenix, Miami, Portland, Chicago and Dallas, and into a long-awaited payday in the offseason, getting three years and $30 million to join the Clippers.
Along the way, he’s established himself as a starter, a valuable three-and-D commodity who keeps improving in both categories and a fungible asset that no team in the league has enough of.
It’s a long way from the 20 games he played on two-way contracts in 2017-18 with the Suns and Heat.
But Miami is where Jones, the 2015 Daily Times Boys Basketball Player of the Year, established himself as a full-time NBA player. He became a rotation piece and semi-regular starter in Portland in 2020-21, racked up highlight reel dunks for the Bulls, then started 66 games for a playoff team in Dallas last year.
Shooting was long a weakness, but he’s steadily improved, up to 34.3 percent last year and 42.1 percent in the first 17 games of this season.
“I just know how to do the little things on the floor, the things that keep you on the floor: Playing defense, playing as hard as I can, knocking down shots whenever I get on, being aggressive as much as I can, just playing basketball,” Jones said. “It’s a simple game. Sometimes we overcomplicate it and try to make it something it’s not.”
Dallas was a great spot for him, able to space next to an elite point guard in Luka Doncic.
Los Angeles may be even better, with a ball dominator like James Harden running the offense and an attention-drawing center in Ivica Zubac. Jones is one of the players replacing Paul George, now an oft-injured 76er, whose value will sustain even when or if Kawhi Leonard returns this season and Jones’ role is minimized.
“LA was definitely top of my list because they had PG leaving,” Jones said. “I was coming in playing that three/four role. Coach told me, just be aggressive. When I got here, I was being as aggressive as I can offensively, not shying away from shots and going away from anything that I can do and make plays for others and be who I am defensively.”
Sunday, against a 76ers side that fancies itself as having copious options for players of Jones’ ilk, Jones showed them how much better he is at the role. He tallied 18 points, two shy of his season-high, on 7-for-10 shooting in 25 minutes. He added three rebounds and two assists.
Jones had five points, including making his only 3-point attempt, in a 7-0 Clippers run to start the second half, turning a 12-point lead into 19 on the way to a humbling of the depleted and defeated 76ers.
It’s a reflection of the player Jones has become, someone who is confident in his NBA status and able to contribute wherever he’s gone.
“My confidence has grown a whole lot, especially from then to now,” Jones said. “That first stint in Miami, for sure, definitely helped my confidence, just being out there on the floor, knowing that I belong, knowing that worked as long as I did to get here.”
