Coach Mark Daigneault reveals reason why Thunder sent Dillon Jones to G League

Tuesday afternoon, it was announced by the OKC Thunder that rookie Dillon Jones has been assigned to the franchise's G League affiliate team, the Oklahoma City Blue.

To some, this news came as a bit of a shock, as the Weber State product was selected 26 overall in this past June's NBA Draft and established himself as a preseason darling for the ball club what with his impressive, all-around averages of 11.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 1.8 steals on 47.8 percent shooting and 46.7 percent shooting from deep.

However, through three games played into his debut regular season at the professional level, Jones has yet to see anything close to meaningful action. Through the first week of play, he's registered a total of 7.0 minutes and has recorded 1 steal, 1 rebound, 1 turnover, and 1 personal foul while missing his only shot attempt.

Following a practice session later on Tuesday, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault talked openly about the team's decision to send the 23-year-old down to the development league, providing specific intel on their aim in doing so.

Thunder coach Mark Daigneault talks Dillon Jones G League demotion

As transcribed by Thunder beat reporter Joel Lorenzi, Daigneault revealed that they are sending Dillon Jones down to the G League just for the day, as he noted that the team's practice session "wasn’t overly punchy."

Considering they are coming off an opening week schedule of three games in four nights and, agonizingly enough, are prepping to take on a week-two schedule with the same kind of slate starting tomorrow, taking it easy in practice makes a ton of sense.

However, when it comes to the development of their recent first-round pick, having him take part in as many high-energy reps as possible can only benefit his growth as a player. Unfortunately for him, the varsity team has not "had a lot of development time" to spare him because of their incredibly busy schedule of late that has seen them play just one home game thus far.

Because of this, the Thunder opted to assign him to the Blue, where, according to Lorenzi, they "had a high-intensity practice."

With all the injuries that OKC's frontcourt has endured, coming into the 2024-25 season many believed Jones could be in the conversation for receiving consistent action within the club's rotation, at least until the likes of Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams, and Kenrich Williams returned.

Of course, this has not proven to be the case after the first week of action, though, perhaps with more time and attention devoted to his development in practice sessions, he can work his way toward nabbing such a role in the near future.