Former first-round pick Perry Jones can't help but wonder about the things that would've happened differently in his career if he didn't end up with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder selected Jones with the 28th pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, but he had to deal with the fact that he will be playing with a team that has Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook in his first year. He only averaged 7.4 minutes in 38 games during his rookie season, and for him, he never really had the chance to establish himself in the league.
In an interview with Erik Horne of The Oklahoman, Jones, who hasn't played in the NBA since 2014, said that the outcome of his career would've been different if he was drafted by another team instead of OKC.
“No disrespect to the Thunder, but I went to a team that didn’t have a need for nobody like that. They had three superstars. They had everything set in stone that they needed. It’s just how the business goes. I think if I went somewhere else and had the opportunity to play in actual games, I think my career would have turned out differently for sure.”
Not really sure what Jones meant by saying that he didn't play in actual games, because he appeared in 62 contests for OKC in his sophomore season, averaging 12.3 minutes nightly. It increased to 14.7 minutes in 43 games during his third year. So, the opportunity he claims that he didn't get was actually there.
The main problem is that he wasn't able to be productive for the Thunder despite logging in significant minutes. In his three-year stint with the Thunder, he only managed to put up 3.8 points and 1.8 rebounds per game.
In July of 2015, Jones was traded by the Thunder to the Boston Celtics, and from there, he spent most of his professional career playing in the G-League and overseas.
At this point, no team has shown any interest in signing Jones and saying those things against OKC doesn't really help his cause.
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