By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Joining Cholet, Dallas native Jalen Jones is set to add the Basketball Champions League to his list of competitions.
The French team signed Jones to a short-term contract with an option for the rest of the 2023-24 season, He arrived as a replacement for injured Kim Tillie, the team announced Friday.
After playing college basketball at SMU and Texas A&M, Jones recorded 32 appearances in the NBA. In the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons, he got two-way contracts from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dallas Mavericks, and New Orleans Pelicans. Moving his talents to Europe, overseas experience includes 13 games played in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, 18 in the 7DAYS EuroCup, and 11 in the FIBA Europe Cup.
Tillie, 36, is expected to miss at least one more month due to a foot injury. He was injured in late September, against JDA Dijon in Round 2 of France’s Betclic Elite Regular Season.
Overcoming the setback, the team coached by Laurent Vila went on to jump to 3-0 in the domestic league, apart from eliminating Telenet Giants Antwerp, Openjobmetis Varese, and Happy Casa Brindisi to secure a ticket to the Regular Season of the Champions League through the Qualification Rounds held in Turkey.
Jones, 30, enters ahead of the home game against AS Monaco in Round 6 of France’s top-tier division on Sunday. Lenovo Tenerife will be the first opponent on October 17 in BCL’s Group C, additionally featuring Darussafaka Lassa and VEF Riga.
His new teammates stretch to Gerald Ayayi, Gerry Blakes, T.J. Campbell, Enzo Goudou-Sinha, Vojtech Hruban, Emmanuel Nzekwesi, and Neal Sako.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL