Snapshot
- Team / role: New Orleans Pelicans projected starting wing/guard and primary perimeter defender; roughly 28 minutes.
- 2025-26 baseline: 56 games, 28.4 MPG, 8.9 PTS, 3.4 REB, 2.8 AST, 1.6 STL, 0.5 BLK and 1.4 threes on .383 FG and .806 FT. NBA team statistics, accessed 2026-07-18
- Role signal: Jamahl Mosley's emphasis on defensive intensity should protect Jones's rotation status even if Jeremiah Fears or Jordan Poole supplies more offense. NBA Mosley introduction, 2026-05
2026-27 projection
| GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | 3PM | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68 | 26 | .420 | .800 | 1.2 | 8.4 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 0.6 | 1.1 |
Correction 2026-07-18 MPG 28 to 26 (GP 66 to 68) as the team model reallocates shooting-guard minutes to Jordan Hawkins after Poole's removal from the healthy ten. Steals are deliberately held at 1.7 despite fewer minutes, on Mosley's record of forcing opponents into three-point attempts and his top-five defensive-rebounding teams. Jones's availability is itself an open question: Bleacher Report grouped him with Murphy in pre-free-agency trade buzz.
Fantasy translation
- Nine-category: 85-125; draftable when steals are a priority, but the band falls sharply if FG% remains below 40%.
- Points: 125-170; low usage makes him scoring-system dependent.
- Dynasty: 100-145; the defensive role is durable, but a major offensive breakout is not the base case.
Role, floor and ceiling
Jones can nominally start at shooting guard, defend the best perimeter creator and shift to small forward. Floor: 25 minutes and top-160 value if the shot remains broken and Fears closes. Ceiling: 31 minutes, 2.0 steals, 0.8 blocks and league-average shooting—a top-70 specialist season.
Injury and transaction monitor
Jones remains in the standard-contract core on the July roster. Official Pelicans roster, accessed 2026-07-18 He played 56 games in 2025-26, so his camp availability should be verified; this research cut did not surface a newly reported carryover injury.
Career record
Pre-NBA: Alabama, four seasons, 2017-18 through 2020-21. 4.2 points and 3.5 rebounds on .408/.269/.500 as a freshman; 6.4 and 3.5 on .422/.286/.495 as a sophomore; 7.9 and 6.4 on .484/.071/.625 as a junior; 11.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocks on .446/.351/.713 as a senior. He was SEC Player of the Year and SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2021, first-team All-SEC, and a third-team All-American — an unusual double that reflects how completely the defense carried the profile. The shooting arc at Alabama is worth holding onto: he was a sub-30 percent three-point shooter for three years before a single .351 senior season. Draft: 2021, second round, 35th overall by New Orleans.
| Season | Age | Team | GP | MPG | PTS | REB | AST | STL | BLK | 3PM | FG% | FT% | TO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-22 | 23 | NOP | 78 | 29.9 | 9.5 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 0.7 | .476 | .840 | 1.3 |
| 2022-23 | 24 | NOP | 66 | 29.6 | 9.8 | 4.1 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.8 | .469 | .764 | 1.3 |
| 2023-24 | 25 | NOP | 76 | 30.5 | 11.0 | 3.6 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 1.5 | .498 | .867 | 1.2 |
| 2024-25 | 26 | NOP | 20 | 32.4 | 10.3 | 3.9 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 1.1 | .436 | .825 | 1.8 |
| 2025-26 | 27 | NOP | 56 | 28.4 | 8.9 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 1.6 | 0.5 | 1.4 | .383 | .806 | 1.3 |
| Career | 296 | 29.9 | 9.9 | 3.7 | 2.5 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 | .458 | .822 | 1.3 |
Fantasy history: Season-end nine-category ranks are not retrievable from open sources here, so no year-by-year finish is asserted. The box scores put the value peak unambiguously at 2023-24 — 11.0 points with 1.5 threes, 1.4 steals, .498 from the field and .867 from the line is a genuinely positive line in eight of nine categories, and it is the only season in which his field goal percentage was an asset rather than a liability. Every other season has been a steals-first specialist shape: elite thefts, useful free throw percentage, low volume everywhere else, and the whole case standing or falling on field goal percentage. In points leagues he is materially worse than in categories, because the low usage caps his raw production and none of the defensive value converts.
Durability: 78, 66, 76, 20, 56. The 2024-25 wipeout is the defining event: he missed 18 games earlier in the season with a right shoulder problem, returned December 5 and started 16 straight, then was ruled out indefinitely on January 10, 2025 with a torn posterior labrum in the same shoulder and had surgery on February 12 that ended his season. In 2025-26 he was held to 56 games by a mild right calf strain in November, an ankle injury sustained against Dallas on December 22, and a shutdown for rest at the end of a lost season. Two consecutive seasons under 60 games after three straight in the mid-70s is the fact that matters, and the specific joint involved is the shooting shoulder.
Trajectory: The career divides cleanly at the labrum tear. Through 2023-24 the arc was a steady, credible ascent — minutes flat around 30, scoring from 9.5 to 11.0, three-point volume nearly doubling in 2023-24, and field goal percentage climbing to .498 as the shot selection improved. Since the surgery the shooting has fallen off a cliff in a way the counting stats hide: .498 to .436 to .383, with three-point makes actually rising to a career-high 1.4 in 2025-26, which means he is taking more of the shot he is currently worst at. That is either a mechanical consequence of a repaired right shoulder or a role being forced onto him by a rebuilt New Orleans offense, and the two readings imply very different 2026-27 outcomes. He is 27, which is the wrong age for a natural decline, so the base case should be partial recovery toward his .458 career mark rather than either a return to .498 or a continuation at .383. Until the shot stabilizes he is a punt-FG% steals source and nothing more, and the 20-and-56-game seasons mean the availability discount is now earned rather than theoretical.
Career sources: ESPN career stats · StatMuse season-by-season · Wikipedia — Herbert Jones · ESPN — Jones out indefinitely with labrum tear · Hoops Rumors — Pelicans injury updates, Nov 2025
Open questions
- Does Jones start at the two or become the first defensive wing off the bench?
- Was .383 FG a one-season low or the new offensive baseline?
- Can he keep steals near 1.7 without 30-plus minutes?