Wizards Guard Wants to Remain Starter as He Enters Free Agency

Selected 24th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, Tyus Jones is now in his ninth season in the league. The 27-year-old spent his first four seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the next four with the Memphis Grizzlies. The 2023-24 season, Jones played for the Washington Wizards.

The 6-1 point guard is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.

Tyus Jones Wants to be a Starter Next Season

In his first season with the Wizards, Jones appeared in 66 games. All 66 saw him be a part of Washington’s starting five.

Talking with the Washington Post (subscription needed), Jones simply stated that the plan is to remain a starter and not go back to being a reserve as he gets set to enter free agency.

While the Wizards finished with the second-worst record in the NBA at 15-67, Jones performed admirably. In 29.3 minutes per contest, he posted averages of 12.0 points, 2.7 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 1.1 steals. He finished with career-highs in both field goal percentage (48.9) and three-point percentage (41.4).

2023-24 was Jones’s First Season as a Full-Time Starter

Entering the 2023-24 season, Jones had appeared in 535 regular season games. Only 94 of them saw him in his team’s starting lineup.

Jones did start a combined 45 games for the Grizzlies in 2021-22 and 2022-23. Many of those were due to star Ja Morant being out of the lineup. Memphis didn’t miss a beat with him starting in 2021-22 with a 19-4 record. In 2022-23, the Grizzlies finished 13-9 with Jones in the starting lineup.

Stellar Assist-to-Turnover Ratio Throughout his Career

One thing that Jones has always been marvelous at in his nine-year career is taking care of the ball.

In his season with the Wizards, Jones totaled 485 assists and just 66 turnovers. That gave him a remarkable 7.35 assist-to-turnover ratio.

For his career, the nine-year veteran has 2,593 assists while turning the ball over 466 times. That gives him a career 5.66 assist-to-turnover ratio.