Dillon Jones praises Mike Brown’s ‘humility’ for taking his NBA Finals advice as he fights for Knicks spot

LAS VEGAS — Dillon Jones logged zero minutes in the NBA Finals but made his contributions to the title as a pseudo-adviser to coach Mike Brown.

As a member of the 2025 championship Thunder, Jones offered experience in how to deal with the circumstances.

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Brown not only sought his young player’s counsel, he implemented at least one suggestion by making the Knicks rewatch their Game 3 loss to the Spurs.

The Thunder did something similar for motivation a year prior when Jones was a reserve guard.

“With coach, honestly, it speaks a lot to just him more than me and whatever I had to say,” Jones said Monday after he helped the summer league squad defeat the Pistons 86-75. “The fact that he would even approach me and have a conversation with me or even ask me to help in any way. … I just think it speaks to him more than me — his humility to hear everybody out in the building. And I’m just glad I was able to help the team in any way.”

Dillon Jones dribbling the ball for the New York Knicks during an NBA Summer League game. NBAE via Getty Images

Jones said the idea to rewatch Game 3 came up in “organic conversations” with Brown.

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“Nothing specific. Just conversations me and coach had,” Jones said. “And we were just talking about different things, and it came up in an organic conversation. It wasn’t like I was just sitting home plotting on what to say or anything like that. … These things — you try different things all the time. You never know what works and what doesn’t. I’m glad I was able to help the team.”

Dillon Jones and Mayor Zohran Mamdani at a championship celebration. GC Images

Jones is now fighting for a training camp invite.

Mohamed Diawara (left ring finger injury) and Pacôme Dadiet (right foot soreness) both sat Monday, but the Knicks didn’t miss them — riding rookie Jack Kayil to their first summer league win.

Kayil, a second-round pick who played last season in Germany, dropped a team-high 19 points with three steals in 29 minutes.

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“Very talented kid. Super gifted,” Jones said. “One thing I appreciate with him — obviously, he wasn’t available early in summer…

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Publish date : 2026-07-14 05:36:00

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