Tre Jones was all smiles at the Advocate Center as he addressed the media, clearly happy to still be a member of the Chicago Bulls following his trade to the club around the 2025 NBA All-Star Break, and a foot injury that shortened his already abbreviated Bulls season to just 18 games (nine starts).
"I had a feeling I'd be back here. I had to come back probably a couple times in the offseason just to do some testing for my foot, things like that before I re-signed and every time I would tell my wife like I just have a feeling we'll be back, I don't know what it was. So I was just super excited to be back obviously, didn't get too much of a summer here but the weather is still beautiful."
Jones was a part of the trade that sent Zach LaVine to the Sacramento Kings, and De'Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs. Jones--as did the other players in that trade that were sent to Chicago--acclimated quite quickly to his new surroundings, averaging 11.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game over his 18 games as a Bull.
Over the 2024-25 season, Jones was able to play steady minutes in Chicago due to injuries to Ayo Dosunmu and Josh Giddey. Now, with both players projecting to be 100% as we head into the 2025-26 season, it is inevitable that roles will change, something Jones states he is prepared for.
"Yeah I'm ready for, you know, whatever the team asks of me. You know obviously like you said, we're not banged up coming into this year which is nice, so we'll have a lot more bodies coming into the year. And we're all trying to figure out our roles and everything like that, but I mean whatever the team asks and needs from me, you know I'll be ready to try to give my all in my role and just do whatever I can to help the team win."
With Giddey and Coby White starting in the backcourt, there is still a chance for Jones to be the first guard off the bench. But for now, preseason action will likely be our first true look into Donovan's thinking. Dosunmu, Dalen Terry, Kevin Huerter, or the newest Bull, Isaac Okoro, all could play a role in Donovan's rotation. It is conceivable that Giddey, White and Dosunmu soak up a chunk of the PG minutes, but Jones sees the Bulls plethora of guard options as a strength rather than a dilemma.
"We have a deep backcourt forsure. You know coach likes to play a lot of guards, so you know, that'll be really good for us that we do have some depth in the backcourt. We play extremely fast so we got a lot of guards out there that can push the pace, you know, very unselfish, we like to move the ball and you know, really good in transition, so we'll try to keep that up again this year."
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