Dallas’ ability to pluck players off the scrape heap is uncanny
This Mavericks season has shown that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. With the team stacking up injuries, they’ve had to shuffle through multiple 10-day contracts and two-way players. Perhaps the only steady constant for the team this season is that whoever they pluck from the heap will probably do some cool things.
Enter Kai Jones, perhaps the Mavericks latest success story, following Moses Brown, who was also a success. Dallas historically as a franchise has an uncanny ability to find random veterans or miscast youngsters, plug them into the lineup, and see almost instant results. Remember Doug McDermott, Seth Curry, Brandan Wright? Remember Trey Burke in the bubble? I used to believe it was former Maverick Dirk Nowitzki’s malleable nature as a star, or Rich Carlisle’s warlock coaching that unlocked so many of these low-key signings into producers, but with Dirk and Carlisle long gone, and even Luka Doncic now as well, the fact that the Mavericks keep doing this maybe is a sign of something great. Who knows. This team just keeps finding guys.
Jones has only played one game in Dallas, and it happened to be easily the best game of his four-year career: 21 points, eight rebounds, and one block. His previous career-high was 11 points, and Jones smashed past that in the first-half alone on Monday with 12 points. This is coming straight off what Brown did on a 10-day contract, where he had a career night with 20 points and 11 rebounds last week against the Hornets, then followed that up with 18 and nine rebounds Saturday against the Bucks. It was the most points Brown has combined to score in back-to-back games since scoring 19 then 21 points in two straight games back in March of 2021.
Jones will have a chance to mimic that Wednesday night with the Bucks, and at least compared to Brown, he’ll be able to stick around a bit longer. Due cap reasons, the Mavericks couldn’t sign Brown to a second 10-day contract, unless there were only a few days left in the regular season. Jones is on a two-way, which don’t count against the cap (Brown was not eligible for a two-way due to his NBA tenure). Unfortunately Jones only has 11 games with Dallas, as two-way players can only play half a season with the NBA club (hence the “two-way” name). The Mavericks have 20 games left, so unless one of the Mavericks big men returns soon so Jones can stay in the G-League for a week or two, it’s like Jones won’t finish the season in Dallas.
For now, hopefully the Mavericks can squeeze more out of Jones while he’s with a team. A former first round pick out of Texas from 2019, Jones has bounced around after some personal struggles with mental health led him to get released from the Hornets last year. A short stint with the Clippers this season has given him another chance, and now he’s on the Mavericks. He’s extremely bouncy and an athletic 6’11 big, which is definitely what the Mavericks need right now with the injuries to Anthony Davis, Dereck Lively, and Daniel Gafford. Jones is pretty slight, so he can get pushed around on the block, but his quickness off the floor is noticeable, like when he surprised Jonas Valanciunas with a block at the rim Monday.
Offensively, Jones is as expected for a big with his leaping ability — mostly screen and roll work with lobs. Jones was able to get some space Monday night mainly because Sacramento was either too flat-footed to react to Jones skying for a lob or just ignoring him to focus on other more immediate threats. The hardest part for Jones finding space at the rim will be with Kyrie Irving out with his ACL injury. Irving was by far the biggest threat in the Mavericks lineup, and if defenses had to make a choice between Irving or Jones, the choice is clear. It’ll be easier to pack the paint against the Mavericks now, which could limit Jones opportunities.
Still, it wouldn’t surprise me if he found a way to produce anyway. That just seems to be how it goes when the Mavericks find these guys. Dallas season competitively is most likely over with Irving’s injury, but if you decide to stick around and watch the team, seeing how these under-the-radar signings perform with bigger reasonability could be fun.