BIO: Blake Jones was born in Brisbane (QLD) and had a very successful junior career, representing both Queensland and Australia at various age levels. Jones has also spent time in the USA, receiving a NBA Global Academy Scholarship in 2018 and also attended the 2020 Basketball Without Borders Global Camp in Chicago. Jones received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 4037. He spent two years year there and played for the program’s state league team (2019, 2020).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Blake Jones made his NBL debut with the Brisbane Bullets at 18 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Jones signed a Development Player deal with the Bullets in 2021, after the team had recruited a high-scoring side roster ready to take the floor. Import Vic Law (18.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 1.4 blocks), led the team in scoring, and team captain Nathan Sobey (21.1 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 4.8 assists), who was shooting the ball at 46% from the field both finishing among the top five scorers in the league. A solid local frontcourt of Matthew Hodgson (10.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks), Harry Froling (8.0 points, 4.9 rebounds) and Tyrell Harrison (5.2 points, 5.8 rebounds) made sure the Bullets outrebounded most team’s, finishing third in offensive rebounding and second in defensive rebounds across the league.

Brisbane showcased what they ‘could be’ in a win over Illawarra (97-91) where Law (29 points and 9 rebounds) and Sobey (18 points and seven assists) piled on the points while Froling and Hodgson notched up 13 rebounds combined.

The high-scoring offence and strong rebounding still saw Brisbane (8-8) struggling to win half of their games. Orlando Johnson (6.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.8 assists) was released mid-March after posting average numbers across 15 games, a move which coincided with New Zealand releasing Lamar Patterson after a niggling knee injury and sluggish start to the season.

Patterson (14.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals) returned to Brisbane, overcame the knee injury and set the stage for the Bullets to return to the playoffs, but a knee injury to Law in the very next game would rule him out for the rest of the season.

Brisbane (10-8) had been floating in and out of the top four, and while Sobey would attempt to fill the void created by Law’s injury, the Bullets would lose five of their next seven games, giving up a average of 90 points while putting up 80 of their own. This led to the mid-season signing of BJ Johnson (10.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.9 assists) who they hoped would help stem the bleeding, which it somewhat did, resulting in a 8-10 run to end the Bullets season.

Despite flashes of brilliance, Brisbane stumbled to a sixth-place finish at the end of the season (18-18) and failed to reach the playoffs. Blake Jones appeared in 7 games, scoring a total of points.

Blake Jones currently plays for the Adelaide 36ers and has played 9 games in his NBL career. He has averaged 1.1 points, 0.5 rebounds, and 0.1 assists since entering the league in 2021.