Getty Luka Doncic (left) and Derrick Jones Jr. (right) of the Dallas Mavericks.
As long as the Los Angeles Lakers employ LeBron James, they will prioritize surrounding him with three-and-D talent on value deals.
L.A. will hunt players who fit that bill this offseason, even if the franchise decides to also pursue a trade for a third star to put alongside James and Anthony Davis. One name that checks all the boxes is that of Derrick Jones Jr., who is currently starting for the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals.
On Thursday, June 6, Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report named Jones as a “sleeper contract” the Lakers should consider pursuing once free agency hits later this summer.
After signing a minimum contract with the Mavericks last offseason, Derrick Jones Jr. clearly earned himself a pay raise with his play. He is not only starting for an NBA Finals participant, he is playing a prominent role for them. Entering the championship round, he is fourth on the team in postseason minutes (31.2 per game) and routinely deployed defensively on the opposition’s best player.
If he isn’t snatched up in the first wave of free agency, the Lakers should give him a look. They need a player who looks an awful lot like his best version: athletic, versatile on defense and capable of supporting offensive stars as a play finisher.
Derrick Jones Jr. Has Outperformed Career Shooting Numbers During Playoff Run
GettyDerrick Jones Jr. of the Dallas Mavericks guards Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Jones isn’t the absolute perfect fit for what the Lakers need, but in a league where just about every team is seeking complementary pieces who can space the floor on offense and defend multiple positions well, organizations need to make compromises.
His defensive prowess isn’t in question, though there are questions about how sustainable his 3-point range truly is, particularly when factoring in the question of volume. Jones shot 34.3% from deep for the Mavericks during the regular season on 3.1 attempts per game, both of which represent career highs.
He has been considerably better than that during this postseason run, connecting on 38.5% of his deep shots against the Los Angeles Clippers (2.2 attempts per game), 37% against the Oklahoma City Thunder (4.5 attempts per game) and 46.2% against the Minnesota Timberwolves (2.6 attempts per game), according to ESPN.
Lakers Must Take Swings on Players Like Derrick Jones Jr. to Maximize LeBron James’ Final Years
GettyDerrick Jones Jr. of the Dallas Mavericks dunks the ball against Minnesota Timberwolves.
Jones will definitely earn more than a minimum contract this summer after all he has done to help Dallas reach this point, and depending on how the Lakers allocate funds, he could get too pricey to be worth the risk.
The law of averages indicates that Jones, now 27 years old with eight NBA seasons under his belt, will regress back toward his career mean as a shooter — if not in the Finals, then certainly over the course of 82 regular season games next year.
That said, some team out there is probably still going to pay him. If the Lakers intend to supply James and Davis with a championship-level supporting cast, they either need to pony up for a player like Jones or trust that they can do what the Mavericks did and peel a quality starter off the scrap heap for a minimum deal.
The former option is riskier, but more likely to succeed, while the latter option has a lower success rate and could take years of development. Los Angeles doesn’t have an unlimited amount of time to build back a championship window while James remains a viable superstar, which will limit its choices this summer.