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2024 Free Agents - Tyus Jones

Summary
Coming out of college and for the early parts of his career, I was a firm believer that Jones could be a solid starting point guard. He has always had a great assist to turnover ratio, and generally just makes the right plays. However, he just hasn't been able to put enough pressure on the defense to be a consistent play-maker, and thus he has been stuck as a high-end backup. However, Jones is one of the main reasons why the Grizzlies were able to survive and continue to win games when Ja Morant was injured or suspended, and they really struggled during Morant's suspension in '23-'24 without Jones.

Jones doesn't get to the rim very often, and he shoots more from midrange than most guards. However, he does hit a good percentage from midrange, and has a nice floater game, including being able to hit floaters going to his left. His three-point shooting has fluctuated a bit, as he has shot 39% from 3 over the last three seasons but for his career is only a 37% outside shooter. 

Defensively, Jones is solid but is somewhat limited by his size, as he's neither tall nor super strong. He has a solid steal rate but isn't a lockdown defender. He moves his feet well, gives good effort, and has the defensive IQ to rotate effectively and be in the right spot. 

Jones will be 28 years old as a free agent in 2024, so he's still young enough that teams likely won't worry too much about age-related regression on his next contract. However, his prime years could be behind him once he hits the back end of a long-term contract.
 
Cap Considerations
Jones will be an unrestricted free agent with a $21 million cap hold and full Bird Rights, meaning the Wizards will have no restrictions on re-signing him. As Jones's cap hold exceeds the salary he will get in free agency, his cap hold is not really relevant.

Depending on how close the Wizards are to the luxury tax after free agency (or on how much cap space they need), if Jones is brought back by the Wizards on a multi-year contract they could benefit from frontloading his contract, as it could give them additional flexibility in the future. However, doing so could cut more into their cap space if they operate under the cap.

For other teams, if Jones demands a starting salary of more than the full $12.9 million Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception, only teams with cap space will be able to sign him, unless a sign-and-trade is worked out. However, it's possible that Jones could be had for the full MLE or slightly less.

Potential Teams: Jazz, Wizards, Spurs, Nets, Timberwolves

Predicted Contract: 3-year, $40.5 million with the Jazz

Actual Contract: 1-year, $3 million ($2.1 million cap hit) with the Suns

In a pretty shocking move, Jones ended up settling for the minimum to join Phoenix, where he will likely be their starting point guard and fit into a much-needed role.

Last updated: 7/27/2024

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