Duke basketball just landed a grad transfer from Davidson. You’ll know his brother
BY SCOTT FOWLER
APRIL 15, 2021 05:35 PM
Bates Jones, who just finished playing four years of basketball at Davidson, told The Charlotte Observer on Thursday that he will play his fifth and final college season at Duke in 2021-22.
“I’m just not ready to hang up the jersey,” Jones said in a phone interview. “I think I’ve got some good basketball left in me, and fortunately Duke thinks so, too.”
Jones, a Charlotte native, will follow some large family footsteps at Duke. His older brother is former Duke star quarterback Daniel Jones, who was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2019 NFL draft and now starts for the New York Giants.
Bates Jones will graduate from Davidson in May with a degree in history and will take graduate courses at Duke, he said. Davidson doesn’t have a graduate school.
Coach Bob McKillop said in an interview he was thrilled that Jones will have an opportunity to play at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski — the two coaches are good friends — and added that the Blue Devils were getting “a wonderful player and person.”
A 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward who played in 96 games at Davidson but started only five, Jones said Duke planned to put him on scholarship for the 2021-22 season.
“I think I’m generally easy to play with, and the Duke coaches said they liked that I’ve played college basketball at a pretty high level for four years,” Jones said. “I can bring a lot of experience to a program that will have a good amount of underclassmen and make some of the younger players by bringing intensity to practices, too.”
An NCAA rule related to the COVID-19 pandemic allows most college athletes an extra season of eligibility if they want to accept it. Jones will be immediately eligible to play at Duke, just like fellow Davidson senior Kellan Grady will be immediately eligible to play at Kentucky for his fifth and final season.
Jones averaged a modest 2.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 12.7 minutes per game as a senior for the Wildcats. But he called his time at Davidson “better than I ever could have hoped” due to the program’s camaraderie and coaching.
BY SCOTT FOWLER
APRIL 15, 2021 05:35 PM
Bates Jones, who just finished playing four years of basketball at Davidson, told The Charlotte Observer on Thursday that he will play his fifth and final college season at Duke in 2021-22.
“I’m just not ready to hang up the jersey,” Jones said in a phone interview. “I think I’ve got some good basketball left in me, and fortunately Duke thinks so, too.”
Jones, a Charlotte native, will follow some large family footsteps at Duke. His older brother is former Duke star quarterback Daniel Jones, who was the No. 6 overall pick of the 2019 NFL draft and now starts for the New York Giants.
Bates Jones will graduate from Davidson in May with a degree in history and will take graduate courses at Duke, he said. Davidson doesn’t have a graduate school.
Coach Bob McKillop said in an interview he was thrilled that Jones will have an opportunity to play at Duke under Mike Krzyzewski — the two coaches are good friends — and added that the Blue Devils were getting “a wonderful player and person.”
A 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward who played in 96 games at Davidson but started only five, Jones said Duke planned to put him on scholarship for the 2021-22 season.
“I think I’m generally easy to play with, and the Duke coaches said they liked that I’ve played college basketball at a pretty high level for four years,” Jones said. “I can bring a lot of experience to a program that will have a good amount of underclassmen and make some of the younger players by bringing intensity to practices, too.”
An NCAA rule related to the COVID-19 pandemic allows most college athletes an extra season of eligibility if they want to accept it. Jones will be immediately eligible to play at Duke, just like fellow Davidson senior Kellan Grady will be immediately eligible to play at Kentucky for his fifth and final season.
Jones averaged a modest 2.6 points, 2.6 rebounds and 12.7 minutes per game as a senior for the Wildcats. But he called his time at Davidson “better than I ever could have hoped” due to the program’s camaraderie and coaching.
