Alexander Shun

Web Editor Associate | Twitter 

At 19 years-old, Tyus Jones has already established quite the impressive resume.

He is a state high-school basketball champion, he has won three gold medals representing Team USA playing for FIBA Americas Under-16 and Under-18 teams, as well as the FIBA Worlds Under-17 team. He has won countless awards including being named Minnesota Mr. Basketball last year. Oh, and he just happened to help lead the Duke Blue Devils to a national championship last season; no big deal.

Now, Jones can add first-round draft pick to his already stellar resume after he was drafted with the 24th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft (Jones was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers but was subsequently traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves). Such incredible basketball success had to start somewhere, and it started right here as a member of the Minnesota Lynx practice squad.

Lynx guard Seimone Augustus remembers Jones well.

“He knew where he needed to be going and how he was going to get there two or three steps prior to even defending him. Sometimes he was threading the passes before the people even made it to the spot. They didn’t even think that the ball was gonna get there. He made some of our worst practice guys look very good that day. He made everyone around him better that day.”

Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve was so impressed with Jones’ play not only on the practice squad but at Duke as well, that she already took to Twitter to try and recruit him back.

Wonder if @Tyusjones06 willing to work on his game in offseason as a #lynx practice guy?? Congrats! Very happy for u https://t.co/wGG0WNHkSt

— Cheryl Reeve (@LynxCoachReeve) June 26, 2015

Although Tyus will be working out at the Courts at Mayo Clinic Square (the same amazing facility that the Lynx practice in), there is no word yet as to whether or not he’ll be joining the Lynx practice squad any time soon. The Lynx players would have no problem with Jones practicing against them again, especialy with how fun he made practices.

“He plays extremely hard and does the right things. It’s easy for coaches to coach him on the scout team when he’s your point guard because he would always get the job done and make it a fun practice,” said Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen. Whalen was impressed by Jones’ intangibles when he was with the Lynx, and is even more impressed now that such intangibles have continued to develop.

“There’s just a quiet confidence that he has about him and he plays at a really smooth pace, but he knows when it’s time to win and when it’s time to play and he gets it done,” said Whalen. “Every time Duke needed a big win this year or a big basket, it felt like he was taking it and he was the one really getting them [his teammates] into stuff. That’s just what you see.”

His time on the practice squad gave Jones a great amount of experience and allowed him to test his skills against some of the best basketball players in the world. Jones got further knowledge and experience in his lone season at Duke, playing for all-world head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Now Jones can bring that wealth of experience and knowledge back to his hometown Timberwolves.

Playing in Minnesota his whole life, and now playing for the hometown team is something that Jones shares with Whalen, and something that Whalen says, Jones should be proud of.

“We got to keep these Minnesota point guards coming. It doesn’t happen that often so we definitely got to enjoy it and be proud of it.”