Falando Cortez Jones (born May 17, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the

City Oilers City Oilers is a basketball club based in Lugogo, Kampala, Uganda. The team competes in the Ugandan National Basketball League (NBL), where it has won eight championships, the most in league history. The Oilers play in the Basketball Africa League ...

of the Ugandan NBL and the

Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is Africa's premier men's basketball league. The league consists of twelve teams, each qualified through their domestic competition, similar to the format of the UEFA Champions League. The league is a joint eff ...

(BAL). He was the scoring champion of the BAL in the 2023 season.

College career

Jones, originally from

Greenwood, Mississippi Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, and 130 miles south of the riverp ...

, played for

Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils basketball The Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils basketball team represents Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Mississippi, in NCAA Division I competition. The school's team competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and plays hom ...

team from 2010 to 2012. In 51 games for the Delta Devils, he averaged 8.4 points and 3.9 rebounds.

Professional career

Jones began his professional career with the Finnish second division club Porvoon Tarmo, where he averaged 17.9 points in the 2013–14 season. The following year, in 2014–15, Jones played for Indonesian club Laskar Dreya South Sumatra of the

ASEAN Basketball League The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is a professional men's basketball league in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong/Macau, which includes six teams from Southeast Asian nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), one tea ...

. In 2018, he signed with

Al Fateh ''Al-Fateh'' ( ar, الفاتح, "the Conqueror") is an Islamic children's magazine in Arabic. It is published biweekly in London, and is also posted online. It began publication in September 2002, and its 108th issue was released in mid-Septembe ...

of the

Saudi Premier League The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...

. In 2019, Jones moved to Egyptian club

Horse Owners' Club Horse Owners' Club (), also known as Ashab Aljead, is an Egyptian sports and cultural club based in Alexandria, Egypt. Founded on 23 August 1934, it is located on the 14th of May Bridge Road. The club exists of a basketball, Association football ...

of the

Egyptian Basketball Premier League The Egyptian Basketball Premier League () is the top professional basketball division of the Egyptian basketball league system. Administrated by the Egyptian Basketball Federation (EBBFED), it is contested by 16 teams, with the two lowest-placed te ...

. After one season, he signed with Misr Insurance, before joining

Smouha Smouha ( ar, سموحة) is an upper class neighborhood in Alexandria, Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northea ...

. In 2022, he joined the

of Uganda. Jones was instrumental in the Oilers' efforts to qualify for their first-ever BAL season. On November 15, Jones scored 15 points against

Matero Magic The Matero Magic are a Zambian semi-professional basketball club from the Matero neighbourhood of Lusaka. The team plays in the Zambia Basketball League and has won the championship a record 10 times. The Magic features many players who are also p ...

in his Oilers debut in the

Road to BAL The Road to BAL, also known as the BAL Qualifying Tournaments, are the qualifying tournaments of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The organization of the qualifiers is in hands of FIBA Africa. The first qualifying rounds were held on 16 October ...

. Later, he scored 40 points in the game against

Cape Town Tigers Cape Town Tigers is a South African basketball club based in Cape Town. The team is located in the Gugulethu township. Established in 2019 by three American business partners, the club has won the South African national championship in 2021 and 20 ...

on November 26, 2022. In the

2023 BAL season The 2023 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 3, is the third season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 11 March 2023 and will end on 27 May 2023, with the playoffs and finals being played in the BK Arena in Kigali, whic ...

, Jones became the league's scoring champion following his 21.6 points per game average. Jones joined Egyptian club Gezira in April 2024.{{Cite web , date=2023-04-30 , title=Al Gezira lands Falando Jones, ex City Oilers , url=https://www.afrobasket.com/Egypt/news/868547/Al-Gezira-lands-Falando-Jones-ex-City-Oilers , access-date=2024-05-02 , website=www.afrobasket.com

References

American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Saudi Arabia American expatriate basketball people in Egypt American expatriate basketball people in Finland City Oilers players 1990 births Sportspeople from Greenwood, Mississippi Living people Laskar Dreya South Sumatra players American expatriate basketball people in Uganda