NBA Free Agency: Herb Jones agrees to four-year, $54 million deal to stay with the New Orleans Pelicans

Free agent forward Herb Jones has agreed on a four-year contract worth $54 million to stay with the New Orleans Pelicans, his agents Mark Bartelstein and Kieran Piller of Priority Sports told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Andrew Lopez on Friday evening.

Herb Jones is one of the better defenders in the NBA

Jones is known for his defensive ability, locking down some of the league’s top players. Many feel as if he was snubbed from the NBA All-Defensive team this past season, not earning enough votes. Either way, having a piece such as Jones can be a vital part of your roster.

On the offensive end, Jones has averaged 9.7 points and 2.3 assists per game throughout his career. Year Two saw improvement from the former second-round pick, being above his season averages from his rookie year.

New Orleans is getting a head start on the rest of the league by locking up Jones for the foreseeable future. It was clear the past few days that they didn’t want him to hit the open market and now they have him locked up for a few more years.

More on his career with the Alabama Crimson Tide

During his days with the Alabama Crimson Tide, Jones established himself as one of the most dominant defensive players in school history. He not only earned SEC Player of the Year honors in 2021, but he also brought home SEC Defensive Player of the Year honors, after he averaged 1.7 steals and 1.1 blocks per game. The 6-foot-8, 210-pounder also was a finalist for the Naismith Trophy Defensive Player of the Year in 2021, given to the top defender player in America.

His senior season, he also landed on the third team AP All-American list. He reached double figures in 19 of 33 games. Against the Georgia Bulldogs on February 13th, Jones erupted for a career-best 21 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists, and swatted three blocks.

In the 2021 SEC Championship game against LSU (March 14th), he tallied a career-high four blocks to go along with 13 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and the game-winning layup.

Jones also became the school record holder for charges taken in a single-season (23 in 2018) and career (77). As a freshman, he led the team in steals with (44, 1.3 steals per game). That number also ranked him seventh in the SEC.

On3’s Griffin McVeigh also contributed to this article.