Golden State Warriors: Ranking the last 10 first-round picks
By Drew Taylor
Damian Jones (Pick #30 in the 2016 NBA Draft)
Damian Jones is the first of a few players on this list drafted as the last pick in the first round.
Out of Vanderbilt University, Jones was drafted with a torn pectoral muscle, an injury he suffered in a pre-draft workout with the Orlando Magic.
Coming into his rookie season, Damian Jones had a very limited role. Still rehabbing his pec and fighting for playing time along with the Warriors’ five other centers, the rookie was the odd man out.
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Over his first two seasons, Jones only played 25 games on stacked Warriors’ rosters. Jones finally got his chance in the 2018-2019 season, solidifying himself as the starting center for the Warriors, starting 22 out of the first 24 games. Unfortunately, Jones tore his other pec and missed all but the Western Conference Finals and NBA Finals.
Before he was sidelined, Jones averaged 5.6 points a game and shot 71.6 percent from the floor.
On draft night 2019, however, Jones was traded to the Atlanta Hawks for another 30th pick, Omari Spellman. In his first year with the team, he’s averaging just about what he did with the GSW as the starting center.
Though a sixth-man/occasional starter on a bad team, Damian Jones is an average NBA player with decent potential, especially when we consider he was the 30th pick.