According to Law Murray, The Athletic's Los Angeles-based Clippers correspondent, the Clippers have made a decision that they will not exercise the $2.2 million team option on the contract of rising interior star Kai Jones next season, which means Jones will become a full free agent again after the free agency market opens. However, Murray also said that the Clippers want to agree a new contract with Jones, and they also want to keep Jones on the roster next season.
Jones was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 19th pick in the first round of the 2021 NBA Draft. Last summer, Jones broke all kinds of news on social media and made all kinds of inexplicable remarks, which also led to him finally being cut by the Hornets and becoming a free agent. Jones signed a 10-day contract with the Philadelphia 76ers late in the season, but didn't get a chance to play, and he signed with the Clippers before the end of the regular season to catch the last train of the playoffs. As a result, Jones also didn't get any chance to play in the playoffs, sitting on the bench and watching the entire series.
Jones has played in a total of 67 NBA regular season games in the NBA, averaging 9.1 minutes per game, averaging 2.7 points, 2 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.3 steals, 0.5 blocks and 0.6 turnovers while shooting 56.7% from the field, 23.8% from three-point range and 64.7% from the free throw line. Jones' performance is actually very mediocre, he has quite a lot of physical talent and athleticism, he is considered to have a very high ceiling and amazing potential to tap, but the problem is that after almost three seasons in the NBA, he still doesn't seem to have made any substantial progress. Crucially, Jones is still a potential thorn in the head, and his series of comments on social media last summer were even more incomprehensible, giving the impression that he had obvious psychological problems and did not seem to be suitable for such a high-level game.
In fact, judging from the current situation, the Clippers roster is very crowded, and in this case, it is obviously not a very ideal operation for the team to reserve a valuable spot for Jones. Considering that Jones has only been in the NBA for three seasons, he is still eligible to sign a two-way contract with the team, and if Jones is willing to accept a two-way contract, it may be an acceptable outcome for the Clippers, and they can continue to watch Jones' improvement to see if he is part of the team's long-term plans.