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2022 Free Agents - Tre Jones

Summary
Coming out of Duke in 2020, Jones was a first round pick in the minds of many draft evaluators, but he ended up dropping to the second round and was picked 41st overall by San Antonio. Jones didn't get much playing time during his rookie year, but his minutes increased slightly in '21-'22.

Jones has a little bit more size and athleticism (although still below average for NBA standards) than his older brother, Tyus, but is a lesser shooter. He shot 36% from three his sophomore year in college, but only hit 26% his freshman season. He hardly ever even takes threes, and when he does it has not gone well. So far, over his first two NBA seasons and seven G-League games in '20-'21, he is shooting 14/68 from three. However, he did shoot 51% from midrange in '21-'22, which has allowed him to have an above-average eFG%. 

Similar to Tyus, Tre also just has nice feel for the game and generally makes the right reads. He showed some nice playmaking ability in the G-League, averaging nearly 10 assists per game, and has posted a very good assist rate during his minutes with the Spurs.

Jones has the potential to be a very good defender. He was the ACC Defensive Player of the year in 2020, and can make an impact both as an on-ball and off-ball defender. He's pesky and does a great job of moving his feet to stay in front of defenders, and also can be disruptive off-the-ball.

Jones needs to show he can hit enough shots at a decent rate and create enough separation off-the-dribble in order to establish himself as a high-level backup, but I think there's a reasonable possibility he gets there. I don't expect him to be waived, so Jones is most likely hitting restricted free agency in 2023.
 
Cap Considerations
Jones's $1.8 million salary for 2022-2023 is non-guaranteed, and if he is waived he will become an unrestricted free agent and the Spurs will have no form of Bird rights on him. It's very unlikely the Spurs waive Jones, and if he did he would likely be claimed before hitting free agency. If he is waived, teams could claim him off waivers, but would need to fit his salary within cap space or an exception to do so, as his contract doesn't fit within the minimum salary exception as it was a three-year contract.

If Jones becomes a free agent, other teams will have multiple ways to sign him as even teams without cap space could use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or possibly even the Room MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. I would also say that in the unlikely scenario Jones is waived and clears waivers, his value will have dropped low enough that he would only have offers for the minimum.

Potential Teams: Spurs, Nuggets, Trailblazers, Hornets, Lakers

Predicted Contract: Not waived: $1.8 million
If waived: 1-year, $1.8 million with the Nuggets

Actual Contract: Not waived: $1.8 million
As expected, Jones was not waived, and will hit restricted free agency in 2023 unless he and the Spurs agree to an extension before then.

Last updated: 10/17/2022

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