PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns agreed to a one-year, veteran minimum deal with Tyus Jones Saturday and made a big promise to him with his role.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Jones told ESPN that Phoenix and new coach Mike Budenholzer recruited him to be their starting point guard.
“The chance to play for the Phoenix Suns made the most sense on a lot of levels to me and my family – beginning with the way (Governor) Mat Ishbia and the front office recruited me to how Coach (Budenholzer) showed me how I can significantly impact a team that has a real opportunity to challenge for an NBA title as their starting point guard,” Jones said.
“My agent (Kevin Bradbury) walked me and my family through multiple free agent offers and sign-and-trade proposals at a number of different financial levels but the Suns’ opportunity is where I can best maximize my value for a return to free agency next year as well as give myself a chance to be part of what I think will be a special team and season.”
Tyus Jones to ESPN on his decision to sign with the Suns pic.twitter.com/9IYGsvnG7R
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 27, 2024
Jones, who will be entering his 10th season in the NBA next year was a full-time starter for the first time last year with the Washington Wizards. The 6-foot-1 Jones averaged a career-best 12.0 points per game shooting 48.9% from the field and 41.4% from 3 along with 7.3 assists to only one turnover per game across 66 starts with Washington.
Jones was previously the backup to Ja Morant on the Memphis Grizzlies before being dealt to Washington last June in a three-team trade involving Marcus Smart going to the Grizzlies and Kristaps Porzingis heading to the Boston Celtics.
In total, Jones has played in 601 career NBA games (160 starts) and averaged 7.4 points, 4.3 assists to only 0.8 turnovers and 1.0 steals. He has also played in 27 career playoff games, including a 12-game stretch for Memphis in the 2022 playoffs in which he averaged 9.2 points, 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals.
Phoenix ranked 25th in the 2023-24 season with 14.9 turnovers per game. Jones and new signing Monte Morris are the two best assist-to-turnover players in the NBA, so this addresses a huge problem Phoenix had last season.
Jones, Morris and center Mason Plumlee are the only three free-agent additions for Phoenix this summer, all signing for one-year, veteran minimum deals.
Jones will go from being a starter on a 15-67 Wizards team to starting alongside Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, making a very interesting dynamic for how different Phoenix can look after not having a true starting or backup point guard for the majority of last season. The Suns will be very small with Jones, Beal (6-foot-3) and Booker (6-4) in the lineup and lack some of the defense and league-leading 3-point percentage Allen offered last year, but get a new dynamic to experiment with in Jones and two very good players at the top of the bench in Allen and Royce O’Neale.
This is how Phoenix’s rotation could look with Jones starting:
- PG: Tyus Jones, Monte Morris, Josh Okogie
- SG: Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen, Damion Lee
- SF: Devin Booker, Royce O’Neale, Nassir Little
- PF:Â Kevin Durant, Bol Bol, Ryan Dunn (R)
- C: Jusuf Nurkić, Mason Plumlee, Oso Ighodaro (R)
What do you think of Jones in Phoenix’s starting lineup?
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
