Tre Jones Proving He's the Best Perimeter Defender on San Antonio Spurs

Tre Jones shined against Kyrie Irving in the San Antonio Spurs season debut on Wednesday.

In 25 minutes off the bench during the San Antonio Spurs loss in the season opener against the Dallas Mavericks, Tre Jones shocked the world. He made two of his three shots from deep, which helped keep Dallas’ defense honest all night.

However, it was his defense that helped the Spurs stay in the game all night. While Dereck Lively II carved up the Spurs after Victor Wembanyama got in foul trouble, Tre Jones was able to shut down one of the best scorers in the league.

Tre Jones looks to pass against the Thunder.  / © Rob Ferguson-USA TODAY Sports

Kyrie Irving has made a career out of embarrassing defenders in isolation and getting shots off from anywhere. During the game, he posted 22 points on a relatively inefficient 10/24 shooting.

Tre Jones gets credit for that. When he guarded Irving, the All-Star only scored two points and shot an abysmal 1-6.

Kyrie Irving’s stats when guarded by Tre Jones last night:

1-6 FG
0-2 3P
2 TOV

Tre pulled out the CLAMPS 🗜️ pic.twitter.com/LvIPPhco9Q

— SpursMuse (@spurs_muse) October 26, 2023

In fact, if we take that further, Irving scored 20 points on 50 percent shooting when Jones wasn’t guarding him. While the usual volume wasn’t there, Irving was his usual efficient self aside from the possessions where he was able to avoid Jones.

The Spurs are stressing defense this season, highlighted by Zach Collins, Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan, and Wemby. Jones, if he can crack the starting five, would bring elite isolation defense that lends itself to taking a star guard out of the game for the opposition.

As the Spurs continue to tweak the lineup, Jones’ defensive prowess might be enough to earn him a starting shot, especially if he can knock down a few shots.