Our player preview series for the 2025 Clippers continues with Derrick Jones Jr., their biggest addition in free agency this summer.

Basic Information

Height: 6’6

Weight: 210 pounds

Position: Small forward

Age: 27

Years in NBA: 8

Regular Season Stats: 8.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.7 steals, and 0.9 turnovers in 23.5 minutes per game across 76 games played (68 starts) on 48.3/34.3/71.3 shooting splits with 59.2% TS

Playoff Stats: 9.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.8 turnovers in 29.4 minutes per game across 22 games played (all starts) on 48.1/36.9/73.3 shooting splits with 57.7% TS

Contract Status: Signed a three year, $30M extension in January, making $9.5M this year

Expectations

Derrick Jones Jr. was the Clippers’ biggest offseason acquisition in terms of name and dollar amount. The Clippers inked Jones to a taxpayer mid-level exception deal fresh off his serving as a starting wing during the Dallas Mavericks’ run to the 2024 NBA Finals, including helping eliminate the Clippers in the process. Even though his contract isn’t massive, the Clippers giving him a 3 year, $30M deal would indicate they expect Jones to be a starter on this team. Early indications are he will be the starting unit’s “defensive stopper” on the perimeter, especially against guards. On the other end, Jones will be expected to make open threes, finish plays above the rim, and generally seamlessly blend into a Harden-dominated offense after doing so last year with a very similar player in Luka.

Strengths

Jones Jr. has consistently rated as a plus – albeit not great – defensive player. His size, long arms, and lateral quickness makes him an excellent cover on shorter guards, who he can really hound and bother. Jones isn’t a hefty player, so doesn’t guard up positions quite as well, but he’s a versatile, multi-positional defender who is good at accumulating steals and blocks while maintaining schemes. Clippers’ fans saw him shut down Paul George in the playoffs, and while he won’t be that good all the time, that series and the entire playoff run showed his value on defense.

The other unique element Jones brings is an above the rim presence. He’s an insane vertical athlete even by NBA standards, capable of soaring well above the rim for lob finishes. This makes him a highly useful cutter and transition player, and helps make up for his lack of shooting. Jones had 62 dunks last year, which would have been third by a mile on the Clippers last year (Zu had 112, Kawhi 76, and Mann was next with 45). The Clippers have frequently seemed slow, ground-bound, and quite frankly unathletic in recent years, and Jones is a big reversal against that trend. There will be some fun dunks in Intuit this year.

Weaknesses

Derrick Jones set new career-bests last season for three-point shooting in terms of percentage (34.3), attempts per game (3.1), and total makes (82). However, even those numbers would indicate just a below-average shooter who can make just enough for defenses to respect him. That’s still not nearly enough for defenses to close out hard, or for him to provide much in the way of spacing. Worse, there’s the chance that Jones could regress as a shooter, making him a true non-threat due to lack of volume or accuracy. Of course, there is the chance that Jones, who has increased his percentage from deep from 28 to 31.6 to 32.8 to 33.8 and then 34.3 over the past five years, could continue to improve, and that would truly be a positive swing for the Clippers.

One of the unfortunate elements of Derrick Jones Jr.’s game is his lack of contribution of “other things”. He’s a mediocre at best rebounder, which is a bit surprising considering his athleticism and size but is just a fact of life considering he’s eight years into his career. Jones is also not a ball-handler or playmaker at all. He can make simple reads in the flow of the offense and is obviously not someone who will hunt his own shot, but can’t be trusted to alleviate the playmaking burden on James Harden. Of course, if Jones did some of that stuff along with his defense and pop he’d probably be making more money, but there are real limitations to what he can offer.

Summary

Derrick Jones Jr. is set up for a big role on this Clippers’ team. His defensive aptitude and ability to play above the rim will give him some sure avenues to minutes, but the lack of offensive punch could also limit him. If Jones regresses from three, the Clippers might not be able to play him big minutes next to James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, and he could find himself in a somewhat subdued bench role. In some ways, therefore, the Clippers’ path to two-way play does rest heavily on Jones. If he can make those shots and stick on the floor on offense, his defense next to Ivica Zubac (and hopefully Kawhi) should help keep the Clippers afloat. If the shots don’t fall, the Clippers will likely have to play offense-first players like Norm Powell or Kevin Porter Jr. more, which will damage the defense. Hopefully Jones can continue on the trajectory from last year and fully establish himself as a starting-level two-way player.

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