Herb Jones Flew In To Swat A Paul George Three And Turned It Into A Wide Open Dunk

There are a ton of excellent defensive players in the NBA, and Herb Jones of the New Orleans Pelicans is as good as any of them. Despite going in the second round of the 2021 NBA Draft, Jones basically forced his way into the team’s starting lineup and has never looked back thanks to his ability to win the Pelicans games by making things absolutely miserable for the best offensive players on the opposing team.

Jones is capable of doing some really incredible stuff on the defensive end of the floor, which Paul George learned the hard way on Friday night. George and the Los Angeles Clippers are in New Orleans to take on the Pelicans in a game with major playoff implications, and in the third quarter, George thought he had a wide open look from three. Unfortunately, Jones was on the floor, so instead, this happened.

The sheer amount of ground that he covers here is completely insane, as is the fact that George had absolutely no shot of getting off a clean look because Jones was all over this. And on top of all of this, Jones was able to turn defense into offense by getting a completely uncontested dunk. This is as good as any defensive play you’ll see this year, although it’s very possible Jones one-ups it before the season comes to an end.