BIOGRAPHY
Damian Jones was born on June 30, 1995, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He is a Center in the NBA.
He has two brothers, Darian and Darryl. He was an engineering science major with a concentration in corporate strategy and a minor in engineering management. He held an internship at Exxon in high school. He won back-to-back state championships in his junior and senior high school seasons at Scotlandville Magnet. He was also named Louisiana’s 5A Player of the Year as a senior. Damian enjoys watching Cartoon Network.
Damian attended Vanderbilt, appearing in 99 games (95 starts) over three seasons, averaging 13.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.69 blocks in 27.1 minutes played. He finished his collegiate career ranked second on Vanderbilt’s career blocks list (167) behind only Festus Ezeli, and his 1.69 blocks per game career mark ranked second-best in program history. He ranked third on Vanderbilt’s all-time list in field goal percentage for his career (.566). Damian was also a two-time First Team All-SEC honoree. He earned SEC All-Defensive honors as a sophomore and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
Damian was selected by Golden State in the first round (30th overall) of the 2016 NBA Draft. That year, he appeared in 10 games with Golden State, averaging 1.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 8.5 minutes while shooting 50.0 percent from the field.
He recorded a career-high-tying four points to go with career-highs in rebounds (7) and blocks (2) on 4/12 vs. the L.A. Lakers. He logged a career-high 21 minutes to go with a career-high-tying four points on 3/11 at San Antonio and tied his career-high with four points on 2/13 at Denver. He scored the first NBA points of his career on 2/1 vs. Charlotte, finishing with four points, two rebounds and one block in four minutes off the bench. He made his NBA debut on 12/10 at Memphis, logging nine minutes off the bench. He appeared in 31 games (21 starts) over the course of nine assignments with the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League, averaging 11.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.10 blocks and 1.1 assists while shooting 58.3 percent from the field in 26.4 minutes. Damian recorded five double-doubles (all point/rebound) with Santa Cruz. He was named NBA G League Player of the Month for games played in March and April, averaging 17.6 points and 7.8 rebounds in 30.4 minutes while shooting 65.4 percent from the field in 12 games in March and April. He scored a season-high 25 points with Santa Cruz to go with seven rebounds and five blocks on 3/31 vs. Los Angeles. He appeared in three postseason games (all starts) with Santa Cruz during the Warriors’ Western Conference Semifinals matchup against the Oklahoma City Blue, averaging 13.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.67 blocks in 24.0 minutes.
On July 1, 2022, Jones signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. On February 9, 2023, Jones was traded to the Utah Jazz in a three-team trade involving the Minnesota Timberwolves.