Former Suns common supervisor James Jones has accepted a job within the league workplace, the NBA introduced right this moment in a press launch.
Jones has been named the NBA’s new government vice chairman and head of basketball operations. It’s the identical function that Joe Dumars held earlier than he left the place to change into the Pelicans’ government VP of basketball operations in April.
Jones’ obligations in his new place will embody overseeing “improvement of enjoying guidelines and interpretations, conduct and self-discipline, and insurance policies and procedures referring to the operation of video games,” per the league.
“James is broadly revered throughout the NBA for being an inspiring chief and the consummate teammate throughout his greater than 20 years as a extremely profitable participant and group government,” the NBA’s president of league operations Byron Spruell stated in an announcement. “Together with his distinctive relationship-building expertise and deep basketball experience, he’s properly suited to information our efforts to form the present and future course of the NBA recreation.”
A 3-time NBA champion as a participant, Jones had been within the Suns’ entrance workplace for the final eight years. He was initially employed as Phoenix’s vice chairman of basketball operations in 2017, however rapidly rose up the ranks to change into co-general supervisor in October of 2018. He was later named the Suns’ lone GM in 2019 and had been the pinnacle of basketball operations for the group since then, till he was changed by Brian Gregory this spring.
On the time of Gregory’s promotion, reporting indicated that Jones was transitioning to changing into a senior advisor for the Suns. Nonetheless, usually when a head of basketball operations is moved out of that prime function, it’s a precursor to him leaving that group altogether.
