Before Isaac Jones ever dunked a basketball, he learned how to operate a forklift.
The Detroit Pistons’ two-way forward had an unlikely path to professional basketball, becoming the first player in franchise history to earn All-NBA G League first-team this past season. Jones currently is with the team during summer league in Las Vegas, averaging 16.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and a block through three games.
With zero college offers – not even from the junior college level – after graduating from Orting High School in Washington in 2018, the metro Seattle native instead got a job working at the loading dock at Puget Sound Pipe & Supply.
“I played all four years of high school,” Jones told the Free Press. “I only had one year of varsity. And I got a little bit of interest from junior college. So that’s the point where I started to go. But once the season ended, no offers, I thought I was done with basketball. That summer I went and got a job. I definitely thought I was done.
“It was crazy,” he continued. “It was really humbling. I’ve gotta get up at 6 a.m., go work a manual, tough 9-to-5. It was cool, it helped me mature and grow. I always mess around and say I’m the only NBA player who’s forklift-certified.”
Jones found his way back to basketball thanks to two strokes of luck. First, he grew from 6-foot-4 to his current height, 6-9, after he turned 18. Then he got a call from one of his best friends and a former teammate, Joseph Lowe, who offered him a path to college hoops.
Lowe was a point guard at West Coast Baptist College in Lancaster, California but was looking to transfer closer to home, to Wenatchee Valley College, roughly 250 miles east of Seattle. The coach at Wenatchee, Jeremy Harden, also wanted to add a player who stood at least 6-foot-8. Lowe asked if Jones was interested.
“I told my mom and she was like ‘Yeah, you gotta go,” Jones said.
It was at the JUCO level that Jones learned the basics of basketball, such as reading ball-screen coverages – and accomplished milestones, such as his first in-game dunk. He lost weight and honed his body. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he earned a third year of eligibility. It ended being the season that secured his transfer to the Division 1 level, as he was named Northwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year in 2021-22 after averaging 25.3 points, 13.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.
Jones first transferred to Idaho in 2023, where he averaged 19.4 points and 7.8 rebounds. Then he made the jump to the Power Five level, averaging 15.3 points and 7.6 rebounds at Washington State. Harden joined him at both stops as an assistant coach. Jones credits Harden for teaching him the game, and made a point to stick with Harden through his college journey.
“I wanted to stick with my coach so when I was talking to schools, I was seeing if they had spots open for him because he was talking to schools too trying to move on,” Jones said. “We came together on the first school and transferred to was Idaho. I just kept getting better. That was my first time going against real Division-1 competition all over the place. And then I transferred again to Washington State.
“It was back in JUCO when he told me I could be an NBA player,” he said of Harden. “I truly believed him and I got more confident. I thought I was going to go to the NBA.”
After going undrafted in 2024, Jones signed a two-way contract with the Sacramento Kings. They promoted him to a standard NBA contract in March of 2025, but waived him last November. The Pistons proceeded to pick him up, and he spent the season with the Motor City Cruise and was promoted to a two-way contract in February.
Jones averaged 22.2 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1 steal and 1.9 blocks with the Cruise this past season and appeared in four games with the Pistons. He’s shined in summer league, asserting himself as a physical forward who can score inside and impact the game on the defensive end.
“He’s relentlessly tough,” Pistons assistant and summer league coach Steve Scalzi said. “He had a little bit of butter fingers in the first half. He was apologizing to me and I was like ‘Come on man, there’s nothing to apologize for.’ We talked about long games and I think if we were to turn it around and win this game, he would’ve been a huge reason why … he’s a really capable, diverse NBA player in my opinion.”
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Isaac Jones went from forklift operator to Pistons G League standout
Reporting by Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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By Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
