The Chicago Bulls have a surplus of guards on their roster. But could they make room in their long-term plans for one more?
That’s the challenge for Tre Jones, who is attempting to use the final stretch of the regular season to show that he can fit into the Bulls’ plans.
Jones was the only player acquired in the Zach LaVine trade at the deadline who arrived in Chicago with an expiring contract. He and Talen Horton-Tucker are the only Bulls who will be unrestricted free agents this summer. After making his Bulls debut Feb. 8, Jones had only 30 regular-season games to nail his audition.
But he has adapted seamlessly. Jones started the last four games at point guard in place of the injured Lonzo Ball — and made a strong impression on coach Billy Donovan.
“He’s got the ‘it’ factor,” Donovan said of the former Duke star. “He really does. He’s just a winner.”
Jones doesn’t fully fit the Bulls’ style of play — or at least the template that was set this season. He’s a pure point guard who scores almost entirely on layups and free throws. In his first 13 games as a Bull, Jones has taken only 14 3-pointers, making six (42.9%). That’s an outlier on a Bulls roster that averages 42.9 attempts per game behind the arc.
But that hasn’t diminished Jones’ impact. In his four starts he has averaged 13 points, six assists and only one turnover.
At 6-foot-1, Jones is an undersized option at point guard — especially for a team with the 6-6 Ball running the point and 6-8 Josh Giddey filling a hybrid point forward role. But the Bulls also have embraced a small-ball style this season, an approach that doesn’t overly highlight Jones’ size disadvantage.
“You can look at size and length for his position and he probably doesn’t have any of those things,” Donovan said. “But he’s got really good speed. He’s really tough. He’s got a high IQ. He understands competition. He can really stay in the moment and compete.”
It’s not only a fit on the court. Jones has been an effortless addition to the Bulls locker room. He grew up playing in AAU tournaments with Ayo Dosunmu, Patrick Williams and Coby White. He played rivalry games in college against White, who went to North Carolina.
After Saturday’s win in Miami, White wouldn’t let Jones get in a word edgewise during his media availability, teasing him about his clutch abilities.
“Y’all didn’t see what he used to do at Duke?” White shouted over the blaring music. “Game-winners? Send the game to overtime? He does this.”
That clutch factor has been crucial during the Bulls’ recent three-game winning streak. Jones scored 10 points in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s comeback win over the Orlando Magic, then tallied 13 fourth-quarter points two days later in the victory over the Heat.
He has averaged 3.3 points in clutch situations (a margin of five or fewer in the final five minutes or overtime) over three games with the Bulls. Two of those resulted in wins. It’s a small sample size — but for a player with a rushed opportunity to make a case for himself to the front office, the high-stakes situations have been ideal.
“I’m just trying to fit in with the team as best as I can and trying to impact winning as best as I can,” Jones said. “We’re trying to compete for that play-in spot right now and continuing to try to climb the standings in the East. There’s still room for a movement on our part, so we’re trying to continue to chip away at this thing every single day.”
Contract negotiations will be tricky for the Bulls front office this summer. Their first priority is making a decision on Giddey, who will be an unrestricted free agent after they declined to extend his rookie contract.
And the Bulls still are juggling a packed backcourt that, even after Ayo Dosunmu’s season-ending surgery, includes Jones, White, Ball and Giddey. Jones has the advantage of being relatively affordable — his last contract was a two-year, $19 million deal — but if the front office decides to balance out the guards with more wings and bigs, there won’t be much room on the roster.
As an unrestricted free agent, Jones will have plenty of say in his next contract. His coaches and teammates hope he’s in Chicago for the long haul.
“I know he’s going into free agency and we’ll see how that plays out,” Donovan said. “But when you talk about a guy you want to have for 82 nights — and I’m not saying he’s always perfect — but he understands competition. He understands what goes into it. That’s what you want.”
