Kai Martinez Jones (born January 19, 2001) is a Bahamian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the Texas Longhorns.

Early life

Born in

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

, Jones moved to the United States when he was 11 years old. Before high school, he returned to his home country hoping to pursue a career as a

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er. At age 15, Jones played organized basketball for his first time, being drawn to the sport after having a growth spurt.

High school career

In the summer of 2017, Jones took part in a Basketball Without Borders Americas camp held by the

(NBA) in Nassau. That year, he worked out with and took advice from top high school recruit

Deandre Ayton Deandre Edoneille Ayton Sr. (born July 23, 1998) is a Bahamian professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the Arizona Wildcats in the Pac-12 Conference in the 2017� ...

in their hometown of Nassau. As a result, Jones was inspired to play basketball in the United States. For the 2017–18 season, he enrolled at

Orlando Christian Prep Orlando Christian Prep was founded in 1960, and is currently a ministry of Orlando Baptist Church. Considered one of the most established Christian schools in the greater Orlando area, OCP serves over 600 students from various backgrounds. The ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, as a high school senior. He was teammates with five-star recruits

Nassir Little Nassir Shamai Little (born February 11, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Little finished his high school career as one of the top-ranked players in hi ...

and C. J. Walker and helped win the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) Class 3A state championship. In high school, Jones woke up at 4:45 a.m. every day to train and played basketball after school. At the same time, he saw academic success, graduating with a 4.2

grade point average Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

and

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

honors. In the summer of 2018, Jones attended the NBA Global Camp in

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

, Italy. Following his senior year, he played a postgraduate season at Brewster Academy in

Wolfeboro, New Hampshire Wolfeboro is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 6,416 at the 2020 census. A resort area situated beside Lake Winnipesaukee, Wolfeboro includes the village of Wolfeboro Falls. History The town was granted ...

. On February 4, 2019, Jones was named to the National Prep Invitational all-tournament team. In March, he helped Brewster Academy win the USA National Prep Championship.

Recruiting

On October 15, 2018, Jones committed to play

for

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He chose to join the Longhorns over offers from several other

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

programs, including

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

, and

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

College career

Coach

Shaka Smart Shaka Dingani Smart (born April 8, 1977) is an American men's college basketball coach. He is the current head men's basketball coach at Marquette University. Early life and playing career Smart grew up in Oregon, Wisconsin. In high school, Sm ...

said that Jones had the best work ethic of any big man he coached. Despite this, Jones struggled to get playing time early in his freshman season. He gradually saw more playing time as the season progressed, finishing with eight points on 4–5 shooting from the field in just 10 minutes of the Longhorns' 73–71 win over

McNeese State McNeese State University is a public university in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Founded in 1939 as Lake Charles Junior College, it was renamed McNeese Junior College after John McNeese, an early local educator. The present name was adopted in 1970. ...

on November 30. As a freshman, Jones averaged 3.6 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. On January 26, 2021, he registered his first double-double, with 15 points and 10 rebounds in an 80–79 loss to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

. Jones was named Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year and to the All-Big 12 honorable mention. As a sophomore, he averaged 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. On March 24, 2021, Jones declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

Professional career

Jones was selected with the 19th pick in the

by the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

and immediately traded to the

. On August 3, he officially signed with the Hornets.

National team career

Jones was a member of the Bahamian junior national team at the 2017 Centrobasket Under-17 Championship in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

. His team finished seventh place out of eight teams.

Career statistics

NBA

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Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

, 21 , , 0 , , 3.0 , , .643 , , .500 , , .375 , , .5 , , .2 , , .0 , , .1 , , 1.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 46 , , 0 , , 12.0 , , .558 , , .211 , , .731 , , 2.7 , , .3 , , .4 , , .7 , , 3.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 67 , , 0 , , 9.1 , , .567 , , .238 , , .647 , , 2.0 , , .3 , , .3 , , .5 , , 2.7

College

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, 27 , , 10 , , 16.7 , , .500 , , .292 , , .636 , , 3.2 , , .4 , , .5 , , 1.1 , , 3.6 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 26 , , 4 , , 22.8 , , .580 , , .382 , , .689 , , 4.8 , , .6 , , .8 , , .9 , , 8.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 53 , , 14 , , 19.7 , , .553 , , .345 , , .677 , , 4.0 , , .5 , , .7 , , 1.0 , , 6.2

References

External links

Texas Longhorns bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Kai 2001 births Living people Bahamian expatriate basketball people in the United States Bahamian men's basketball players Centers (basketball) Charlotte Hornets players Greensboro Swarm players New York Knicks draft picks Sportspeople from Nassau, Bahamas Texas Longhorns men's basketball players