Despite the accolades and spotlight that comes with winning two NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors, Atlanta Hawks center Damian Jones isn't done competing in the Association.
The Hawks acquired Jones in a July trade with the Warriors, receiving the 24-year-old big man and a second-round pick for Villanova product and power forward Omari Spellman.
In his three-year tenure in the NBA and with the Warriors, Jones has struggled to find a rhythm, only appearing in 49 total games including 24 contests during the 2018-19 season and 12 total playoff games.
Here's Jones talking about his mindset heading into the next chapter in his basketball career, per Chris Vivlamore in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
“I haven’t really gotten a chance to show what I can do,” Jones said Friday at his introductory news conference. “… I still have more to prove.”
Jones was selected with the 30th pick in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft by the Warriors. He then earned two rings on the back-to-back Golden State team led by Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry.
Injuries have sidelined Jones from developing into a productive NBA player, but the Hawks are taking a flyer on the Vanderbilt product (along with getting a second-round pick as insurance for the big man flip).
It's been an eventful offseason for Atlanta, who also traded up with the New Orleans Pelicans to draft Virginia forward De'Andre Hunter with the fourth overall pick and closed their lottery-section haul by taking Duke swingman Cam Reddish at 10.
The Hawks are gonna need all the help they can get, including from the re-energized Jones, to improve on last year's 29-53 record.