New Orleans Pelicans’ Herb Jones returns to his Alabama high school roots

New Orleans Pelicans forward Herb Jones is going back to high school – at least numerically.

For his fourth NBA season, the former Alabama standout will have No. 2 on his jersey, just as he did while starring for Sunshine and Hale County as a teen.

Jones relinquished the No. 5 after the Pelicans acquired former NBA All-Star Dejounte Murray in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks in July.

"Once I saw the trade happen, I knew we'd have to talk about it at some point," Jones said . "... I looked at what jersey number he wore in college, and I saw he wore No. 5 as long as I could remember or seeing on the internet. And so when he reached out about it, it was kind of a no-brainer. Like, I figured he had a deeper meaning behind why he wore No. 5. And I didn't ask about anything; I just assumed it. And I wore No. 2 in high school, so when I found out No. 2 was available, I was like, you pretty much, I mean, you got it. I'm not really tripping about a jersey number."

Jones and Murray could be on the court as teammates for the first time on Monday, when the Pelicans tip off their NBA preseason schedule with a home game against the Orlando Magic at 12:30 p.m. CDT.

"It's going to be fun," Jones said of playing with Murray. "I know he loves to compete, and that's pretty much, that checks all the boxes for me. As long as you love to compete and you love to win, I think we'll be good."

The Pelicans went 49-33 last season before being swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

From that team, New Orleans returned its top four scorers by points-per-game average and added Murray, who scored at a 22.5-points-per-game clip in 2023-24.

But the Pelicans parted ways with leading rebounder and shot blocker Jonas Valanciunas after three seasons in a trade with the Washington Wizards.

The downsizing could leave Jones using his All-NBA Defensive team skills guarding the opponent's center at times.

"Whatever they need me to do, whoever they need me to guard, I have no problem with it," Jones said . "I'll go out and do my best regardless of who the task is to guard. It really doesn't matter. As long as the group that's out there understands the assignment, I think we'll be OK."

New Orleans signed veteran center Daniel Theis in the offseason, but he's 6-foot-8, the same height as Jones, although Theis outweighs Jones by 35 pounds.

The Pelicans have three 6-11 players, including former Hoover High School and UAB standout Trey Jemison , who's on a two-way contract after going from the Birmingham Squadron to 14 starts for the Memphis Grizzlies last season. New Orleans also has Karlo Matkovic and Yves Missi, who have never played in an NBA regular-season game.

The Pelicans' only other player taller than 6-8 is 6-9 Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, who has made 57 starts in three NBA seasons, including one start for New Orleans last season.

"I think it's been good," Jones said of his team's work at training camp in Nashville. "It's been super competitive. I love how we're looking with a big on the floor or not. I think we'll continue to learn, I wouldn't say a new system, but just trying to learn how to mesh together. But I do think it'll take a little time, and I think the training camp will be very helpful for it."

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In addition to earning the All-Defensive accolade last season, Jones averaged 11.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

"I'm just trying to become a more consistent and efficient player all across the board," Jones said , "and also improving being a leader, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I'm just trying to help guys whatever ways that they need help. I want to be able to help whoever that needs help get better. And I think a lot of it will start with showing up every day and my teammates knowing that they're going to get the same, they're going to get the same guy every day, no matter what part of the season we're in from Day 1 or Game 1 until Game 82. I want to be the same consistent dude every day."

Last season, Jones reach career highs as his shooting percentage hit .498 and his free-throw percentage went to .867. While Jones made 56.8 percent of his 2-point shots, his 3-point accuracy jumped to 41.8 percent.

"I wasn't a great shooter," Jones said , "and I knew it'd take time to be able to go out and knock down shots. I didn't set the bar to being a 40 percent 3-point shooter. But with the work, I don't think anything is impossible. And that's just how I approach it. And this year I'm not setting a bar to shoot 40 percent again. I'm going to just continue to work hard every day and take the open shots, take the good ones confidently."

After a four-game preseason schedule, the Pelicans will tip off the 2024-25 campaign against the Chicago Bulls at 7 p.m. Oct. 23 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans.