Following the 2024 NBA Draft, Stanford fifth year forward Spencer Jones has signed with the Portland Trail Blazers for NBA Summer League after going undrafted.
READ: Spencer Jones says goodbye to Stanford with gratitude and resolve
READ: Q&A with Spencer Jones ahead of 2024 NBA Draft
Jones was not expecting to get drafted but did expect to at least get a chance to show teams what he can do. He’ll officially be getting that chance when he suits up for the Blazers later this month in Las Vegas.
Listed at 6’7”, 225 pounds, Jones has solid size for an NBA forward and has the ability to play both inside and out. He is coming off a season in which he averaged 11.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.8 blocks per game on 43.8% shooting from the field, 40.9% shooting from 3-point range, and 64.5% shooting from the foul line.
Those weren’t the best numbers of his career as he was dealing with a wrist injury all season. As a fourth year senior, he averaged 14.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game on 43.3% shooting from the field, 38.9% shooting from 3-point range, and 74.6% shooting from the foul line. Had his wrist been healthy last season, he would have likely been averaging 15+ points per game.
The main thing that Jones is going to want to show the Trail Blazers and other teams during this Summer League season is that he’s capable of playing much better than he did last season and that with a healthy wrist that he addressed through surgery, he can now take his game up a notch.
“Biggest thing is that this season wasn’t my best,” Jones told CardinalSportsReport.com about what we wants to show teams. “Clearly, I mean it wasn’t statistically-wise. But, also that I haven’t lost a step at all. I mean clearly, I was dealing with a bum wrist and still shot 40 percent from three. So bare minimum you are getting a 40 for three percent shooter.
“But outside of that, a bit more ball handling, a bit more creativity that I was unable to kinda show consistently. And then just my ability just to be able to defend multiple positions. Definitely two through four. Even one through four that I didn’t during college and just prove that I can be a day one plug and play kind of guy.”
If Jones is going to find his way onto an NBA roster this season (best case would be on a two-way deal), his combination of shooting and defense will need to be his calling card. Guys that can defend always have a chance in the NBA. Especially if they can pair that with the ability to shoot.
It’s important to underscore that Jones is not just auditioning for the Blazers. He’s auditioning for all 30 teams in the NBA. If he plays well enough, even if the Blazers end up releasing him, some other team could pick him on an exhibit ten contract, which is a training camp deal that could turn into a two-way deal.
Hopefully for Spencer Jones, he has a strong summer and is able to show the Blazers and the rest of the NBA the best of what he can bring. If he does, odds are good he’ll be on a training camp roster with the potential to earn a two-way deal.
“I’ve had interest the entire year and everything,” Jones said prior to the draft. “And teams know I was messing with a messed up wrist and the feedback I’ve gotten is a lot of teams see me at the very least as a two-way guy. It’s a business though, so you wonder coming off an injury if they’ll try to undersell me for an E-10 or something like that, but like I said, the fact that I’m just coming off an injury and my agent says he can set up ten to fifteen workouts with different teams and so, the interest is there. At this point it’s just finally time to go prove it and that’s the part I love about it.”
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