Former NBA player Terrence Jones has arrived in Taiwan to play for the Kaohsiung Steelers in the P.League+, the club said on Thursday.
The six-year NBA veteran was a first-round pick of the Houston Rockets in 2012 and played in Houston for four seasons before moving to the New Orleans Pelicans and the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2016-2017 season.
He returned to the Rockets for the 2018-2019 season.
Photo: AFP
Jones, 30, becomes the most experienced NBA player on a P.League+ roster and should help the Steelers offensively, the club said in a statement.
The 2.06m forward arrived in Taiwan on Thursday night, the statement said.
Jones averaged 10.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in 234 games in the NBA, and averaged 22.3 points and 11.2 rebounds while playing for the Qingdao Eagles of the Chinese Basketball Association in the 2017-2018 season.
He later played in the NBA G League, the NBA’s official minor-league system, and other clubs around the world, such as the TNT KaTropa of the Philippine Basketball Association in 2019, when he was named Best Import of the Commissioner’s Cup.
Steelers general manager Kenny Kao said that Jones is a swingman who can play inside or outside, and possesses extraordinary mobility and explosiveness, with strong scoring and rebounding skills.
Those strengths plus his experience in the NBA and overseas leagues should really help the Steelers, Kao said.
The Kaohsiung team were one of two teams — the other being the Taoyuan Pilots — who did not advance to the P.League+ playoffs last season.
The 2021-2022 expansion team finished fifth in the six-team league’s regular-season standings with a 9-20 record.
The Steelers are to open their 2022-2023 season on Nov. 6 against two-time defending champions the Taipei Fubon Braves at the Heping Basketball Gymnasium in Taipei.
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