Columbia native Dillon Jones sees NBA Draft as next step in his hoops career

Keenan High coach Zach Norris doesn’t remember seeing Dillon Jones without a basketball in his hands many times growing up.

As a youngster, Jones would be around Raider practices, watching his older brother, Eric Washington, practice. He even was the school’s ball boy and water boy for three seasons from 2009-11 as Keenan won back to back championships.

“He would always be trying to do things everyone else would do,” Norris said of Jones.

Jones grew into a standout for the Raiders and helped them win the 2019 Class 3A championship. Now, the 6-foot-6 forward/guard accomplished one of his lifetime goals on Wednesday as he was selected in the first round (26th player overall) of the NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Thunder moved up back in the first round and traded five second-round picks to the New York Knicks to select Jones.

“I kind of knew he would do big things,” Norris said of Jones this week. “He was always giving it his best and wanted to reach the top. Nothing mattered to him but reaching the top.”

It is the second straight year a SC native was picked in the first round of the NBA Draft. Dorman High’s Noah Clowney went last year to the New Jersey Nets. Jones is the first Columbia native taken in the first round of the NBA Draft since former Eau Claire standout Jermaine O’Neal went to Portland with the 17th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.

Jones, 22, talked with The State this week about his NBA dreams, desire and determination, and the difficult decision he made to leave home for his senior year in high school to play at Sunrise Christian in Kansas.

After that he played at Weber State in Ogden, Utah, a relatively unknown school that has produced a handful of NBA players, including All-Star guard Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks. Jones joins Lillard as just the second former Weber State player to be picked in the first round of the NBA Draft.

“I knew this day would come and all these things were all part of it,” Jones said.

Leaving the Palmetto State

Three months after helping Keenan to the state championship, Jones made the decision — an unpopular one to some — to leave one of the state’s top basketball programs and head to Kansas and play for Sunrise Christian.

At the time, Sunrise wasn’t well established among the popular high school basketball factories even though it had produced Division I players including future Oklahoma and NBA guard Buddy Hield.

Norris, the Keenan coach, questioned the move at the time. Jones had played that weekend with Keenan in an SC Scholastic Basketball event, but he didn’t play in the final game.

A few days later, Jones and Norris met as Jones explained the decision.

“I have no regrets about him leaving,” Norris said. “He needed a change. The change was better for him. I knew it was hard, but it was the best situation.”

Jones and Norris still have a good relationship and he visits the school when he is home. Last summer, Jones hosted his first Back to School Bash at Keenan, where kids learned about basketball and were given school supplies, T-shirts and haircuts.

“People didn’t understand what I was going after and chasing,” Jones said. “Keenan was great. I still go back and am welcomed there. What I was chasing, I needed to take that step and Sunrise provided it for me.”

Playing at Sunrise against a national schedule allowed Jones to go against better competition. It also helped him grow up, learning how to develop away from the court, which helped him transition to college basketball.

Making his mark at Weber State

After a strong senior season at Sunrise, Jones committed to play at Weber State in the spring of his senior year despite never visiting the campus in Ogden, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City.

Recruiting was a little different during his senior year in 2020 because of COVID-19 and players weren’t allowed to take in-person visits.

This was another decision that many didn’t understand. There were other schools in the mix, including South Carolina early on, but the Gamecocks had backed off recruiting him.

While Weber State has produced NBA All-Star Lillard and had 16 players picked in the NBA Draft. Only Lillard and Joe Bolomboy (2016) has been drafted since the league went to a two-round format in 1989.

Still, like the move to Sunrise, Jones did his research about the program, coaching staff and player development before making his choice.

“If you pull back the layers of Weber State, players get better there every year, the coach (Randy Rahe, since retired) has been there forever,” Jones said. “... Again, people didn’t understand why are you going to Weber State? But it was all part of the plan.”

At Weber State, Jones blossomed into a star and will go down as one of the best players in program history. He was named Big Sky Conference Player of the Year this season and was an all-conference selection for three years.

Jones went through the NBA Draft process in 2023 and said he came close to not returning for his final seasons at Weber. But Jones decided to return to school. There were plenty of opportunities to play elsewhere for his senior season, with many players jumping from mid-majors to Power 5 programs to get more exposure and NIL money.

“I know a lot of players that play that aren’t in good situations that would die to be in a good situation,” Jones told The State last summer. “I have been blessed to be in one. So I thought there was never a reason to put that in jeopardy. I feel like what I’ve got at Weber State is certain. I don’t know what is out there in the transfer portal — a lot of that is uncertain.”

This season, Jones averaged 20.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game. According to Sports Reference, Jones was one of only two players nationally to post at least 600 points, 300 rebounds, 150 assists and 50 steals in a single season since 1992-93.

Jones’ high mark for the season came against Northern Colorado when he scored 30 points and had 23 rebounds and nine assists. He became the first player since 2010-11 to score more than 30 points and have more than 20 rebounds and nine assists in a college game.

“Jones is as versatile as it gets,” ESPN’s Jay Bilas said of Jones back in December. “He can get to the rim and is very creative with the ball. I just wish he was on TV more so people could see him more often.”

What NBA scouts are saying about Jones

Most NBA mock drafts had Jones going somewhere in the second round but the Thunder liked him so much to move up back in the first round.

NBADraft.net had him going in the second round, 41st overall to Philadelphia 76ers while ESPN’s Jonathan Givony has him going as the 50th overall pick to the Indiana Pacers.

“He’s got point-guard ability and does it all. .... He is a really talented player,” Bilas said on the ESPN broadcast after Jones was selected.

Jones said this week he worked out with close to 20 teams over the past month, with the last being the NBA champion Boston Celtics. He didn’t work out for the Thunder.

“Jones developed into a force as the alpha for the Wildcats, eventually winning Big Sky POY honors as a senior,” CBS Sports analyst Kyle Boone wrote of Jones. “He’s got a menu of skills and a willing worker whose game will fit — in some way — in the NBA.”

Jones said because of all the traveling and working out from team to team, things haven’t sunk in just yet. But it is sure to come when he hears his name called.

“It would be a moment that all the hard work and all decisions I made would not be in vain,” Jones said. “It will be satisfying to reach that goal (drafted). But the goal is to be a 10-year player in the NBA and stay in the league. I am excited for that challenge.”