Duke Basketball: Why Tre Jones may stick around for more than one year

Despite what the latest trend suggests, there is no law that requires every five-star Duke basketball recruit to bolt for the NBA after just one season in college.

Fact: Zion Williamson, R.J. Barrett, and Cam Reddish will not be on the 2019-20 roster for the Duke basketball team.

Forecast: Tre Jones will.

Now, this prediction might seem illogical considering that seven of the past eight Duke commitments who 247Sports rated with five stars have been one-and-done players (Marques Bolden is the lone exception).

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Also, it’s easy to assume that Jones will follow the path of his older brother, former Duke point guard and national champion Tyus, and only gift the Blue Devils with his presence for one season before cashing in on his talent at the next level.

But younger brothers are renowned for wanting to do things their own way.

Sure, his game, his frame, and his face all make him a near spitting image of his brother. That being said, Tre has witnessed firsthand through the experiences of his brother the difference between being a Duke basketball star and an NBA benchwarmer who has to wait until someone at his position gets injured in order to see significant playing time (Tyus has only started in 11 of his 179 career games with the Minnesota Timberwolves).

Maybe the youngest Jones brother will be more drawn to the limelight he will receive in Durham than to the big bucks he will receive as a pro. After all, Jones has been a Duke basketball supporter since his brother’s time as a Blue Devil, when he had a chance to sit in the stands and see the joy and recognition that a national championship provides. And even if he never makes it to the NBA, he could always make a living by working for or mooching off Tyus (another common occurrence for younger brothers).

Maybe Tre has a desire to be considered one of the all-time greats at Duke. Maybe he even has dreams of seeing his jersey number one day being retired in Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Tre definitely had a chance to see that the only time Tyus has ended up on the cover of Sports Illustrated — with the headline “Won. Done.” — was at the end of his one season as a Duke basketball player. And what are the chances Tyus will ever have that chance as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves?

Barring Tyus one day holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy after nailing a game-winning shot in the NBA Finals — not likely anytime soon unless he somehow becomes a member of the Golden State Warriors — there is basically no fathomable way that could occur.

If Tre does return to Duke as a sophomore — understand that the 6-foot-2, 185-pound Minnesota native has yet to play his first game in a Duke jersey and could end up being a total bust, although the chances of that are about as slim as Tyus reappearing on national magazine covers as a pro — he would be looked to as a leader during the 2019-20 season. He would also be the most popular kid on campus.

If the Blue Devils were to win this season’s national championship, that popularity would increase tenfold if Jones returned for a sophomore campaign in Durham. And although the Duke basketball coaches have yet to receive a commitment from a 2019 recruit, the returning players already expected to be in Durham for the 2019-20 season — such as Jack White, Alex O’Connell, Marques Bolden, Javin DeLaurier, and Joey Baker — would be enough, with the presence of Jones, to have the Blue Devils in a realistic hunt for a title.

Yet only Jones knows what factors serve as his primary motivation.

Do visions of being a fan favorite at Duke for life drive him?

If so, he should stay in Durham for years to come.

Or does he yearn for the financial freedom that a professional contract would provide?

If that is the case, he should do everything in his power during one season in Durham to increase his draft stock. SI.com currently has him as the 41st best prospect on its Top 60 Big Board.

If he does decide to stay, he will have to deal with natural feelings of envy as he watches Williamson, Barrett, and Reddish land on NBA rosters while earning seven-figure salaries.

On the other hand, he would have opportunities that those other guys won’t. He would be able to keep living the life of a college kid while further ingratiating himself with the Blue Devils’ fanbase. At Duke, he could become the first player little kids look to for an autograph (on an NBA team, he would likely be one of the last).

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Nobody — including Jones — knows what his future holds. But don’t be surprised if Jones is swayed more by a future of holding a piece of Duke basketball fans’ hearts than he is of holding a spot at the end of an NBA bench.

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