Less than two weeks after making history as the first player signed under the NBA’s second-round pick exception, Colby Jones, who inked a four-year, $8.76 million contract with the Sacramento Kings, is already turning heads in the 2023 NBA Summer League.
On Monday night, Jones finished with team-highs of 19 points (8-of-13 from the field) and nine rebounds to go with two assists, two steals and two blocks in the Kings’ 80-70 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Jones played 30 minutes in the Kings’ Las Vegas Summer League opener on July 7, scoring 12 points and grabbing three boards in an 80-76 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.
According to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee, Jones has found confidence on the offensive end, saying, “Coach has been telling me to shoot the ball when I’m open and that gives me a lot of confidence. I’ve been working on that a lot so I want to trust that and be able to shoot it when I’m open.”
Prior to the Vegas leg of the Summer League, Jones turned in back-to-back double-digit point performances off the bench in the California Classic in Sacramento. The Kings won both contests.
Jones is one of four players from Xavier’s run to the Sweet 16 last season who are on NBA Summer League rosters.
Guard Souley Boum, who led the Musketeers in scoring last season and was a first-team all-Big East selection, joined Jones with the Kings. In the Las Vegas opener, Boum came off the bench for 11 minutes and finished with three points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal. He did not play in Monday’s loss to the Clippers.
Northern Kentucky native Adam Kunkel is on the Golden State Warriors. He did not suit up in the California Classic against Jones and the Kings on July 3, but knocked down a pair of three-pointers off the bench in the Warriors’ 98-83 win over the Charlotte Hornets two days later.
Seven-footer Jack Nunge, who joined the Pistons Summer League roster in June, has not seen the court for Detroit in its first two games in Las Vegas.