Derrick Jones Jr. might be the NBA’s Wolverine, as his latest comeback reminds us

DALLAS — When LA Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. was ruled out with a hamstring injury following the first quarter of a Dec. 8 home loss against the Houston Rockets, he was tagged with a two-week re-evaluation timeline. It appeared that Jones would miss his chance to play in the Dec. 19 and 21 road games against the Dallas Mavericks, the team that Jones signed with late in the 2023 offseason and emerged as a starter for the 2024 Western Conference champions. But Jones has a habit of appearing banged up, only to rise like Lazarus and be completely fine. They call him Airplane Mode, but they might as well call him The Black Box as well. Jones likens his durability to Wolverine or Deadpool. Sure enough, Jones made a surprise return to practice ahead of the road trip to Dallas, was listed as questionable ahead of the first game, and wound up getting to return to the lineup on a minutes restriction. It was almost like he needed to play so he could take in the tribute video at American Airlines Center that the Mavericks played for his services. “I wasn’t expecting that,” Jones said sheepishly after the Clippers beat Dallas Thursday night 118-95, 11 days after Jones initially strained his hamstring. “But it’s love, for sure. I always got love for this city. They gave me an opportunity to play when a lot of teams wouldn’t. And I just was able to take full advantage of the opportunity. Got myself here.” It was at that point in the visitors’ locker room that Clippers shooting guard Norman Powell interrupted Jones’ reflection, as if to speak in Jones’ voice. “Gave me the opportunity, now I got a little bag, you know what I mean?!” Powell called out nearby. “Got a little bag! Go ahead, tell them!” The come up was real for Jones, though. He went from a one-year, minimum contract with Dallas in August 2023 to a three-year, $30 million deal to partly replace departed All-Star Paul George and join the Clippers on the first day of free agency this past offseason. Jones’ departure was a blow to the Mavericks, who beat the Clippers in the quarterfinals before going on a run that ended with an NBA Finals loss to the Boston Celtics. “Derrick was a big part of our success last year,” Dallas head coach Jason Kidd said before Thursday’s game. “He was the last to sign with us … he made us a little bit more athletic. He could guard one through five. He shot the 3 well for us. And he’s a pro. He comes to work every day to do his job. We’re happy for his new contract. Unfortunately, he’s on the other side. But the Clippers got a pro.” The Clippers cited Jones’ athleticism, defense, ability to play in transition and rim pressure as reasons they wanted him. “As we experienced firsthand in the playoffs against Dallas, he can change a game with his length and activity,” president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said in July. It was no different when Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue spoke on Jones in training camp. “I call him a shutdown corner,” Lue said of Jones in training camp. “I think defensively, be able to guard multiple positions, take on that challenge of guarding the best player every night. I see that from him.” Jones is listed as the starting power forward for the Clippers, but he typically guards down if he isn’t taking on a wing matchup, with starting point guard James Harden tasked with guarding the bigger bodies at power forward. That has allowed Jones to be a great defender in isolation and to use his extraordinary length to challenge shooters. Per Synergy, Jones has limited isolation scorers to only 3 of 12 field goals this season while allowing only .636 points per possession, ranking in the 84th percentile of isolation defenders this season. Jones is also averaging a career-best 1.3 steals per game. “That’s really my first time being on the court with somebody who really likes to actually guard,” said Clippers guard Kris Dunn, who like Jones, was an offseason acquisition brought in to help elevate the Clippers defense. “He can cover ground, help defense. He can come out of nowhere, get weakside blocks. He gets steals. And then his IQ. His point-of-attack defense, with his IQ, is tremendous. And that’s why, you know, Dallas loved him when he was there.” Even though Jones is on a minutes restriction, he showed his impact defensively. In the 17 minutes that he was on the floor for Dallas’ 113-97 Saturday night win over the Clippers, the Mavericks scored only 91.7 points per 100 possessions. But when Jones was off the floor, the Clippers allowed 131.1 points per 100 possessions, with the Mavericks making 50.9 percent from the field. Even with a tender hamstring, Jones was making defensive plays that held Dallas to only 36.4 percent from the field in his minutes. It’s all a part of a long journey for the southeast Pennsylvania native that started when he was undrafted in 2016 after one year at UNLV. I asked Jones point-blank how a player with his 7-foot wingspan and 46-inch vertical leap goes unselected in hindsight. “It was a tough night, honestly,” Jones said of his draft process at his locker before the game. “I wanted to get drafted. But at a certain point, my agent called me, basically told me it would be best to go undrafted.” Jones was supposed to play for the Sacramento Kings summer league team in a familiar place in Las Vegas, but couldn’t get cleared to participate. He wound up in training camp with the Phoenix Suns, beating out former first-round pick Archie Goodwin for the final roster spot on the 2016-17 Suns team. Eventually, Jones left Phoenix and got into the Miami Heat developmental machine, becoming a contributor to the 2020 team led by Jimmy Butler that made the NBA Finals. That earned Jones a two-year, $19 million contract to join the Portland Trail Blazers for the 2020-21 season. But Jones said he became “complacent” as he found himself traded to the Chicago Bulls in the 2021 offseason. “I settled a little bit,” Jones told me at his locker. “I was happy with what I had. In this league, you got to keep working for more.” When Jones signed a two-year, $6 million deal to stay with Chicago in 2022, Jones called it “real humbling.” But Jones didn’t put his foot down until he failed to find a deal following the decision to decline the player option ahead of the 2023 offseason. “I told myself, told my brother, all my homies, I’ll never be at that point again,” Jones said. “Whatever I got to do. Work my tail off to get wherever I wanted to be.” Jones has put in that work, going from a player who only made 20.5 percent of his 3s and 59.4 percent of his free throws in college to career-bests this season at 41 percent from 3 and 87.1 percent from the line. He has the trust of his teammates and coaches, on both ends of the floor. Everyone in the organization is waiting on the next step: the chance for Jones to start next to Kawhi Leonard, who is nearing a return from strengthening his inflamed right knee. Jones anticipates LA’s sixth-ranked defense getting a boost with the two-time Finals MVP back in the lineup. “He’s another presence defensively — offenses are going to fear him,” Jones said of Leonard, who returned to practice and is on the road trip with the Clippers in Dallas and on to Memphis. “They know his resume on the defensive end. Ain’t nobody about to attack him. When he gets back, it’s going to be even better.” There is a lot more work to do for the 16-13 Clippers, and more for Jones to do as he works his way back. But Jones has struck the balance of being rewarded while staying hungry. “I’m loving where I’m at,” Jones said. “Clipper nation, we’re rocking, for sure.”