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Who is Dillon Jones? Meet OKC Thunder rookie and family who led him to NBA
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- Who is Dillon Jones? Meet OKC Thunder rookie and family who led him to NBA
Eric Washington closed his eyes as the last 22 years of his brother's life flashed across his mind.
Two newborns in a hospital room.
Conversations shared over a game.
The four walls of a coach's office in Ogden, Utah.
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A faded New York City skyline.
Washington sat, encompassing the emotions of time. But when he glanced over at his younger brother, Dillon Jones , who was using one hand to put on a hat laced with stripes of blue, white and orange and the other to open a bottle of champagne, he realized this was where the memories froze.
"Everything flashed before my face," Washington said. "In a matter of 20 minutes, it was every single emotion and every single encounter. It was like a revelation."
Eight years older than Dillon and his twin sister Courtney, Washington has been present since their birth, and now he was there for his brother on the biggest night of his life — as Dillon was selected 26th overall in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft for the Oklahoma City Thunder via trade.
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So, while reminiscing on the most distinct moments of Jones' life, he understood that everything else in between is what made the history.
"It was almost like an out-of-body experience," Washington said. "Because I know how he got here. I know the sacrifices my family made. I know the sacrifices I made. I know the whole story."
Washington, who plays professional basketball in Germany, and Jones were born students of the game, and their family embraced the art of learning it, while understanding basketball was not the sole purpose for living.
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Their mother, Rozeita Jones, laid down the foundation of their lives in faith, passing down the morals and lessons learned from her grandparents and parents. Her children grew up learning to maneuver through difficulties with acceptance and grace, even when life was not always easy.
"It has been a long road traveled," Dillon said. "We grew up in a single-parent household, but we were one of those families, we didn't know we were poor in a way. We just had so much fun with each other. What the game brought us was more powerful than anything that money could give us."
Raising three kids as a single mom, Rozeita had to do it on her own. She carried a belief that what was meant for her children would come to fruition. As AAU summer league dreams were funded and support systems were developed throughout high school and college, she was right.
But when Dillon Jones' name was announced on draft night, it was clear that his mother had carried the answers all along.
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"We had to go through college and go through the process of being picked," Rozeita said. "But, I always said, if he is to be found or his talent is what I think it is, then this is my prayer. It is that if this is what he wants, and if he's a kid who possesses what they're looking for, they will find him.
"And they did."
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Dillon Jones stands with Thunder general manager Sam Presti during an introductory press conference for the 2024 Thunder draft picks at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in Oklahoma City, Saturday, June, 29, 2024.
'Basketball was the common denominator'
As Washington navigated the EuroLeague, Dillon was at home in Columbia, South Carolina, watching his film, cutting it up and organizing his best clips.
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"While he was climbing the ranks in Europe, I was the guy making his highlight tapes," Dillon said. "So, I am watching a lot of basketball, a lot of European basketball. That's where the IQ comes from and how I process the game."
Even thousands of miles apart, Washington and Dillon were tied together by the sport, despite being separated by eight years.
"Basketball gave us something to talk about, something to laugh and argue about and something to connect over," Washington said. "Anytime you have something where you can connect with a person, it draws you. So, basketball definitely was that for us."
For the siblings, basketball was inspired by brotherhood. They learned from each other, and Dillon applied Washington's 5-foot-10 game to his 6-foot-6 frame.
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He grew up dreaming of being creative with the ball like Kyrie Irving, having footwork and being able to score off the pivot like Kobe Bryant, and rebounding and pushing the ball like Jabari Parker.
"I instilled this in my children, the ability to dream," Rozeita said. "I would tell them, I know you are young, but you can actually do it."
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Dillon Jones speaks during an introductory press conference for the 2024 Thunder draft picks at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in Oklahoma City, Saturday, June, 29, 2024.
Those aspirations from his childhood, his ability to see the court from a point guard's perspective and the influence of his high school coach, Zach Norris, allowed Dillon to develop a skill set that was both versatile and functional.
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"The ability to do a bunch of different things just comes from my upbringing," Dillon said. "When I went to Keenan High School, that coach I played for was as old school as they come. He wore white socks in practice, shirts tucked in and team shoes. How he ran the program was a straight line.
"You weren't on the floor if you didn't play defense. Everyone wasn't going to score. You had to be able to figure out ways to be a good player, and that's where the do it all mindset came from."
He brought that background with him to Weber State University. As he sat on the bench his freshman season, Dillon had no idea what the next four years of his life would bring, but current Wildcats head coach Eric Duft was beside him every step of the way.
"He values himself as a playmaker first, scorer second," said Duft, who was the assistant coach at Weber State the first two years Dillon was there. "He didn't shoot it very well when he first got here, so he had to really work on that. He turned into a good shooter, who learned to have a scoring mindset. But he's just a guy who can impact the game in a variety of ways."
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Over the next two years, Dillon started 63 of the 65 games he played in and gradually developed into one of the best players to compete in the Big Sky Conference. However, he hit a stride in his last season.
Dillon was the first Division I player in over three decades to have 600 points, 300 rebounds, 160 assists and 60 steals in a single season. He was the only player in the NCAA to lead a conference in points, rebounds and assists and was one of two players to average 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game.
After Dillon scored in double digits in all 31 games he played in and tallied 10 or more rebounds in 18 games, he was named a top-five finalist for the Julius Erving Award, which is given to the top small forward in the country.
As a person, his commitment to his craft, family and school did not fit the mold of everyone around him. Dillon who is a perfectionist, deep thinker and a true student of life, brought an unorthodox game. It blends perfectly into an era of basketball where the player needs to be able to compete with all five positions.
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'He's just a wonderful kid," Duft said. "He's serious about basketball and an extremely good student. Fans are going to see a guy that is good. A guy that wants to be in the community, and a person who will be a great fit for the team."
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May 14, 2024; Chicago, IL, USA; Dillon Jones (51) and Jamir Watkins (5) participate during the 2024 NBA Draft Combine at Wintrust Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
'It was the toughest thing I had ever done'
Washington sat across from Eric Duft in his office waiting in the same chair where his brother would usually be found in between classes or during a break.
He had flown from Europe to Utah with a few weeks left to go in Dillon's junior season to tell the head coach something. His younger brother had gained attention from other schools after a solid two-year stretch at Weber State. However, Washington had to make sure Duft knew Dillon was not going to leave.
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"He came in and said, 'Just so you know, Dillon won't be transferring,'" Duft said, recalling the day in his office. "'We're not chasing money right now. We're chasing relationships. You guys have helped him, you have developed him, and he's here with you guys.'"
As the words flowed out of Washington's mouth, Duft could only think of one thing.
"I was never worried about him transferring, because that's not Dillon," Duft said. "I was worried he was going to stay in the draft."
After his third season, Dillon participated in the G League Elite Camp and the NBA Draft Combine and received calls from teams, including Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti, who had stated he could be their 58th pick in the draft.
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But in a lost art in this decade of basketball, Dillon chose to stay.
"It was everything I had wished for, and I turned it down," Dillon said. "At the time, it was the toughest thing I had ever done. … But my brother told me something that made my decision for me. He said, 'You could probably run up and down the court, be in the NBA and say you're in it. But that's not what you want, you want to say you stayed in it.'"
For the next 365 days, Dillon returned and continued to build upon everything that defined him as a player and as a person.
He gave back to the community, which Duft asserts he did the most out of any player in Weber State's history, and became the one his teammates looked to on and off the court. Most of all, Dillon proved the power of commitment.
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He got to finish his time with the Wildcats on his terms, and he also jumped from a fringe second-round prospect to a first-round draft pick, as Presti showed the same commitment to him as Dillon showed to Weber State.
"I had a lot of accolades and obviously things on the court worked out for me," Dillon said. "But the reasons why, well, I am going out and talking to people when I don't have to. I had to have people understand that I was there for my community.
"This worked because I kept the perspective, while I chased the dream."
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Dillon Jones talks to the media during an introductory press conference for the 2024 Thunder draft picks at Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center in Oklahoma City, Saturday, June 29, 2024.
'I don't even know how to explain it'
Twenty-five players had heard their names called and had walked onto the stage to shake NBA commissioner Adam Silver's hand at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
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But Dillon Jones and Eric Washington sat alone, in a room just a few miles down the road at his agent's office with their heads bowed, as the rest of the family waited in front of the TV right outside. Prayer had gotten the brothers to this moment, and they knew it would sustain them long after it passed.
"Everything was moving fast," Washington said. "But when we tap into our faith, He slows everything down."
As they walked out, they waited, standing strong on the foundation their mother had instilled long ago and embracing the support of all the people who had helped them build the path that led to this point.
In New York, he was surrounded by his family and friends, but states away, Duft sat with the phone up to the screen recording, hoping to capture the moment of the player who stayed, finally getting to go.
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"I knew it could happen at any time," Duft said. "I kept watching the next 10 best available players list on the screen, but I knew there were some things going on."
Earlier in the week, the Washington Wizards had spent over an hour on the phone with the head athletic trainer at Weber State, so as the team's time on the clock approached, prospects and nerves rose.
Dillon's name was announced as the Wizards placed the 26th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, before he was quickly traded to the New York Knicks. However, Presti had other plans as he traded five second-round picks to the Knicks for Dillon.
For Dillon, in that moment as he grabbed the Thunder hat and the bottle of champagne, it did not matter where he was going, because he had finally made it.
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"I don't even know how to explain it," Dillon said. "When it is like something you work for your whole life and you finally achieve it, it's very unbelievable."
Knowing where he had been and what he had gone through propelled him to that point and made it worthwhile, but as he enters the next chapter of his life, it is the same mentality that will sustain him as he makes the transition.
"It hasn't been easy," Duft said. "But Dillon, his brother, his family, they never made any excuses."
And as Eric Washington stood, watching his brother on draft night against the distant skyline of New York City with tears running down his cheeks, he was glad they never did.
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder rookie Dillon Jones' family and game led him to NBA
