Tre Jones breaks out for Spurs with second triple-double in six-day span

Call me Olivia Rodrigo, because I’m getting déjà vu. It feels as though I was just writing about Tre Jones breaking out with his first career triple-double. Posting another less than a week later, it feels like Jones is flexing on us. As the season drags to a close and the Spurs have shut down more and more players, Tre has taken a leap.

As well as Tre has played over the last week, the Spurs have not matched his energy on the court. Jones’ first triple-double was so exciting not only because it was the first of his young career, but because it came in a shocking win over the playoff-bound Kings. His second trip-dub, though still very fun, came in a drubbing at the hands of the Timberwolves.

It isn’t the easiest task to drum up interest amid a losing season. I greatly appreciate that the Spurs have experimented with expanding their market to Austin (college kids add some hilarity to sports, as seen below). There have also been some fun wins recently— the aforementioned Kings game, spoiling Dejounte Murray’s homecoming, and the nail-biter over the tanking Trail Blazers.

But again, it is tough to excite the masses until we get an idea of who the Spurs might draft. That, combined with the fact I’ve already given my thoughts on Tre’s breakout, makes it hard to add anything of value here. So instead of closing with what I think this means for Jones and the Spurs, I’ll let some analysts I have tremendous respect for speak for me.

On the most recent episode of The Dunker Spot podcast, hosted by Nekias Duncan and Steve Jones Jr. (both are must-follows on Twitter), Steve took a minute to shoutout Tre. From the 1:03 mark: “I love the season that he’s put together, the control he’s shown in the pick-and-roll, the drives, seeing space and attacking, engaging defenses and making the right play over and over again.” High praise for the third-year guard.

Pivoting to more local coverage, Spurs insider Matthew Tynan had this to say about Jones back in December: “No other Spur has broken down defenses and stirred them around the way Jones has this season. Not even Keldon Johnson or Devin Vassell… Without an elite individual scorer, San Antonio depends on its offensive system and a point-of-attack guard… And right now, when Jones is off the court, the easy stuff has been very difficult to access.”

As I wrote in my original article, and as site expert Noah Magaro-George has covered in more detail here, Tre Jones is a restricted free agent this summer. The Spurs are better with Jones around. That was clear before this recent stretch of play, but has only been emphasized since, and San Antonio would be best served re-signing him to a reasonable deal this offseason. I’ll close with a simple phrase, one that comes from Tre himself: GSG!