Tyus Robert Jones (born May 10, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils in his freshman season as part of the 2014–15 National Championship team. He is the older brother of NBA player Tre Jones.
A point guard, Jones was ranked among the top 10 players in the national high school class of 2014 by Rivals.com, Scout.com and ESPN. He was a Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) Class 4A state champion, three-time Minnesota Associated Press Boys Basketball Player of the Year and three-time Minnesota Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year for Apple Valley High School. He played in the 2014 McDonald's All-American Boys Game, 2014 Jordan Brand Classic and the 2014 Nike Hoop Summit. He won the skills competition at the 2014 McDonald's All-American Game and posted the only double-double in the 2014 Jordan Brand Classic.
Jones committed to the Duke University men's basketball team as a package with Jahlil Okafor. He was a 2014 USA Today second team All-USA Boys Basketball Team selection. At Duke, he was an All-ACC third team and All-ACC Freshman first team selection. He earned NCAA basketball tournament Most Outstanding Player during Duke's victory in the championship game of the 2015 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. Subsequently, he announced he would enter the 2015 NBA draft. He was selected with the 24th overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers and traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With his hometown team the Minnesota Timberwolves for four seasons, Jones went on to set the NBA single-season assist to turnover ratio record (6.96). He then signed with the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2019 offseason, and lead the league for four years in a row, breaking his own assist to turnover single-season record with 7.04. He became a starter to earn his sixth consecutive assist to turnover ratio title, setting a new NBA record of 7.35. After four seasons with the team, he was traded to the Washington Wizards with whom he played for one season before signing with the Phoenix Suns in 2024.
Jones earned the role as a varsity starter for Apple Valley High School as an eighth grader for the 2009–10 season. That year, he averaged 16.8 points per game and 8.1 assists per game, starting every game for a team that went 20–8. That season he received his first recruiting letter (at age 13) from USC.
As a freshman, he received his first scholarship offer from Iowa. That season, he averaged 20.1 points, 7.1 assists and 2.6 steals per game in 16 games, after missing 7 weeks due to a lacerated kidney. Following his freshman season, he was invited to attend separate skills camps hosted by LeBron James and Chris Paul. However, he was also invited by USA Basketball to the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado to be one of 27 athletes try out for the 12-man FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship team, which he eventually was selected to. Team USA won the tournament. By the time he attended the July 2011 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Peach Jam tournament he already had offers from Minnesota and Baylor. In the days after the four-day tournament that was attended by leading coaches such as Thad Matta, Tom Izzo, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams, John Calipari, Josh Pastner, Bill Self, Sean Miller and Rick Pitino, he received offers from Ohio State, Michigan State, Marquette, Providence, Arizona and Iowa State.
As a sophomore, he was a unanimous selection as the 2012 Minnesota Associated Press Player of the Year for high school boys basketball and was named to the 2012 Associated Press All-state team along with Siyani Chambers, Joey King, Tyler Vaughan and Johnny Woodard. Jones' Apple Valley team was eliminated in the MSHSL Class 4A, Section 3 final by Eastview High School. Jones averaged 28 points and 8 assists in 31 minutes per game. He earned the 2012 Minnesota Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year. He was the 2012 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year in boys' basketball as well as the Pioneer Press' boys basketball player of the year. By the end of his sophomore season, he had an offer from Duke to go along with his earlier offers from Minnesota, Iowa State, Michigan State, Ohio State, Providence, Arizona, Baylor and Marquette. Following the season, Jones again played for Team USA at the 2012 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Kaunas, Lithuania from June 29 – July 8, 2012. The team went undefeated in 8 games.
Jones entered his 2012–13 junior season as the national class of 2014's top ranked basketball player according to ESPN. Sports Illustrated columnist Frank Burlison listed him second to Jahlil Okafor on August 16, 2012. On September 11, when Okafor was named a monthly blogger for USA Today High School Sports, he noted that he and Jones wanted to attend a Michigan State Spartans football game together. Jones was one of 10 USA Today preseason All-USA selections (along with Aaron Gordon, Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Kasey Hill, Okafor, Jabari Parker, Julius Randle, Noah Vonleh, Andrew Wiggins). At the January 5, 2013, Timberwolves Shootout at the Target Center, Jones led Apple Valley on a 31–9 run to overcome an 11-point deficit with 9 minutes and 19 seconds remaining against Rashad Vaughn and Robbinsdale Cooper High School. The head-to-head matchup of class of 2014 guards Jones and Vaughn was described as "arguably the best individual-to-individual matchup in Minnesota high school basketball history" by the Star Tribune. Two weeks before the matchup of ESPN 100 top 10 high school players, NBA.com had anticipated the matchup with a feature story. Following his junior season, he was co-winner of the Minnesota Associated Press Player of the Year award for high school boys basketball, with DeLaSalle fellow junior Reid Travis. Jones led Apple Valley to the MSHSL Class 4A championship, while Travis led DeLaSalle to the 3A championship. They were joined on the Associated Press All-State team by Anders Broman, Rashad Vaughn and Graham Woodward. Jones earned the 2013 Minnesota Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year and the Pioneer Press player of the year. However, Travis was the 2013 Star Tribune Metro Player of the Year in boys' basketball. Following the season, Jones was selected by HighSchoolHardwood.com as one of two juniors (along with Okafor) on its first or second five selections of its 2012–13 High School Hardwood All-American teams. Stanley Johnson was the only other junior on the 20-man All-American First Team.
On March 9 Jones listed his final seven schools: Baylor, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State, Minnesota and Ohio State. Jones had unofficially visited all seven of these schools before his junior season ended. In late April 2013, Okafor's father believed it was very possible that Okafor and Jones would matriculate together as a package. By late April, there were rumors that Cliff Alexander and Justise Winslow would attend whatever school Jones and Okafor attended.
On May 30, Okafor cut his list of schools to eight: Arizona, Baylor, Duke, Illinois, Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State and Ohio State, which overlapped with Jones in six schools. Although Alexander was ranked as the fifth best player in the class of 2014 by Rivals.com and had offers from four of the six schools common to both by the beginning of June, he said the chances of him matriculating with Jones and Okafor was slim. As the summer evaluation period continued, the unique nature of the possibility of Okafor and Jones, who are not related and not teammates, going to college as a package continued to get a lot of press. Jones was co-MVP for the 2013 Under Armour Elite 24 All-star game's winning team. On August 13, Jones announced that he would take official visits to four schools Baylor August 30 – September 1; Kentucky September 27–29; Kansas October 18–20; and Duke October 25–27. Notably, Duke, which is the favorite according to Star Tribune writer Amelia Rayno, is scheduled last. On August 14, Jones confirmed that he might make a fifth official visit (the maximum allowed by the NCAA) to Minnesota, although they remained an unlikely underdog. Okafor visited Baylor on August 29 with Jones as the two were ranked 1–2 in the Rivals.com class of 2014 rankings. One of the reasons Baylor was a serious contender is that Jared Nuness, a member of the Baylor basketball staff, is Jones' cousin.