Player Facts
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 196lbs.
Date of Birth: May 10 1996
College Experience: Duke (1 year)
Selections
All Star: 0
All-NBA: 0
All-Defensive: 0
Player Grades
Speed/Explosiveness: 8
Physical Strength: 4
Positional Size: 4
Positional Wingspan: 5
Paint Scoring: 7
Midrange Scoring: 6
Three-Point Scoring: 8
Dribbling: 8
Passing: 9
Perimeter Defense: 4
Interior Defense: 3
Rebounding: 4
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STRENGTHS
Intro
Tyus Jones brings multiple layers of value to the table on the NBA floor. One skill area stands out above the rest – perennially elite AST/TO ratios. The Duke product tacks spot-up shooting, a soft floater, and some defensive effort onto that core of his game.
Steady with the Ball
Learning how to efficiently run point in an NBA offense can often be a steep learning curve for young guards. This was seemingly not the case for Tyus. He began posting premier playmaking grades from the outset of his career.
Tyus has only grown stronger as a floor general. He has outstanding court vision plus the ability to execute in a variety of ways in both half-court and transition settings. To help contextualize how adept he is here, one can begin by looking at his advanced passing statistics.
Playmaking Metrics Darling
One of the better-known metrics, the assist-to-turnover ratio, measures how many helpers a player registers for every cough-up they commit. If Tyus doesn't end up leading the league here in a given year, it is all but a guarantee he remains in the top 3 to 5.
2021-2022 saw him pace the entire Association with a comically good 7.04 AST/TO ratio. Quite interestingly, the runner-up was his younger brother Tre Jones with a 5.04 average.
To add more 2021-2022 perspective, Tyus was over 2 full assists-per-turnover better than sure-handed playmakers Chris Paul, Mike Conley, and Monte Morris. As his usage and touches have gone up, this strength of his game has remained relatively strong (4.71 in 2024-2025).
Some more advanced passing stats can be operative when examining Tyus' game. During his age-25 season, he averaged 11.6 points created for teammates in just 21.2 minutes/night. For context, solid offensive guard Terry Rozier had that same former figure, but needed 33.7 minutes of average court time to get there.
Ball Screen Table-Setting
Tyus melds an extremely unselfish basketball playstyle with the practical skillset to precisely carry out his on-court philosophies. He is an absolute master as a ball screen playmaking-operator. Components of his game that stand out most include his patience, ability to simultaneously court map his teammates and opponents, and ambidexterity with deliveries.
Tyus Jones understands and then accentuates the unique strengths of each of his roll men partners. For example, screeners he has played with, such as Steven Adams and Jaren Jackson Jr., have distinctly different offensive fortes. Regardless, Tyus finds unique ways to put them in advantageous positions.
Float-Game
As he has grown into the NBA player he is today, the 6-foot guard has honed his float game. This has been a particularly meaningful development as he can now strike legitimate fear into the opposing P&R defensive tandem in two different ways.
He will also use the virtually identical mechanical form when tossing up a runner versus throwing an alley-oop to a teammate. This deceptiveness can help throw defenders out of their optimal guarding position. Some of the league's best on-ball engines, like Trae Young and Darius Garland, use this same sleight of hand for great results.
The conversion rates and tracking stats back up Tyus' visible floater artistry. He notched 1.3 non-charge circle paint makes per night in 2021-2022. Jones made good on just under half of his attempts here.
Portable & Malleable Guard
Tyus can also use his speed and handle to get into the lane via second-side attacks after the pass pings to him. The closeouts he sees have gotten harder thanks to his improved jumper. He does a great job of keeping the advantage for his squad, making astute decisions in these spots.
After finding his home with the Memphis Grizzlies, the former Blue Devil has wisely grinded to improve his outside shot. When you play with creators like Ja Morant and Desmond Bane, it is an improvement you would be well-served to make. This growth has helped him be helpful at multiple stops after his time with the Grizzlies.
Tyus can now share court time with other on-ball creators without a second thought from the coach. They can alternate on-ball catalyst possessions, with their collective passing chops have a positive compounding effect within a given single possession. After all, Tyus remains an excellent standstill, "one-more" passer.
What makes multi-pronged lineups being alluded to so clearly tenable for stretches is that sharpened up distance shooting from Tyus. He has upped both his range and his conversion rates into his mid-to-late twenties.
The former Blue Devil has strung together a couple of great seasons from deep on some career-high volume rates at that. 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 saw him finish with identical 41.4% clips from deep. That's on a blend of a pull-up and catch-and-shoot 3PT diet.
ATB Spot-Up Threes
Tyus nailed 142 catch-and-shoot threes across 2024-2025 on 43% shooting. This helps him share the floor with and be additive to more ball-dominant players. Therein lies much of Tyus' flexing value - he can drive bench units well, step in to start, or simply play in hybrid lineups with other stars like Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.
Draining threes consistently is something that dozens of NBA role players offer. However, many of these players' 3PT shot charts skew towards the corners.
For Tyus, he allows more limited shooting teammates to camp out on the side pockets while he can dependably space from the wings and out top. Jones attempted 160 above-the-break treys in 2021-2022 compared to only 43 corner triple tries. He proceeded to sink a hair under 40% of these ATB threes.
Trying on Defense
Tyus is proactive, intelligent, and tries on the defensive end, but is simply limited anthropometrically. He measured 6'0.5" barefoot at the draft combine, with a medium build. He does have a reasonable 6-5 wingspan given his height, and he will use that to accrue some steals and deflections (typically 1-2 steals per 36).
WEAKNESSES
A (Small) Target on Defense
Size severely limits his potential impact on defense. While some players have all the athleticism in the world but seem to mentally drift off on defense, Tyus is in the inverse position.
He will get picked on as someone bigger guards and wings will go at. While he admirably refrains from immediately fouling in these spots, it will still yield good offense for the opponents. Help must arrive hard and fast, and this begins the start of defensive compromising.
Continuing with positions as it pertains to defense, he can only guard opposing ones on-the-ball. In 20.7% of his 2024-2025 defensive possessions in which he checked a forward, they had a collective field goal percentage of 52.7%. Overall, very seldom do sub-6-1, sub-200-pound players fare well defensively in the NBA.
Middling On-Ball Scoring
Tyus's scoring package is relatively shallow on-the-ball and he'll rarely even look to call his own number. Those floaters that are such a pillar of his game are more of a necessity than they may appear to be on the surface. They are a means of stopping shy of the trees rather than looking to draw contact.
His middle-of-the-pack percentiles on isolations and as the pick-and-roll ball-handler speak to that. He is far more likely to make a pass in pressure situations rather than fall back upon his shot-making.
In ball screen scenarios or otherwise, he doesn't put a ton of pressure on the rim given his physical limitations. This keeps his true shooting percentages uninspiring each season. This also keeps him from getting to the line very much, despite being accurate when there.
Rare Glass-Cleaner
As one last point, he has exaggeratedly low rebound rates on both sides of the court. Offensive rebounding contributions are not expected of small point guards, but a bit more help closing out defensive possessions would be welcome. Again, this weak point is rooted in his size, so it is hard to see a clear path towards improvement.
Players Appearing Here – Check Out Their Profiles
- Chris Paul [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Mike Conley Opens in a new tab
- Monte MorrisOpens in a new tab
- Terry Rozier [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Steven AdamsOpens in a new tab
- Jaren Jackson Jr. [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Trae YoungOpens in a new tab
- Darius Garland [PATREON]Opens in a new tab
- Ja Morant [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- Desmond Bane [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- Paolo Banchero [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
- Franz Wagner [Coming Soon]Opens in a new tab
