NEW YORK — He's going to the league!
Xavier guard Colby Jones was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the No. 34 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. Jones was later traded to the Sacramento Kings.
The 6-foot-6 junior came to Xavier to play under former head coach Travis Steele. He stayed with the Musketeers when Sean Miller returned to the program, leading the 2022-23 squad in assists and steals.
Jones also shot 37% from the 3-point line and averaged around 15 points, helping the Muskies to the Sweet 16 in the team's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2018. In 2022, he was named the NIT Most Outstanding Player after averaging a team-high 14.8 points per game in Xavier's NIT championship run his sophomore year.
ESPN analyst Jay Bilas called Jones a "Josh Hart-type player." Hart, a fellow Big East product out of Villanova, currently plays for the New York Knicks.
Jones is the first player selected by the Kings during this draft. Sacramento traded the No. 24 pick to the Mavericks.
The Birmingham, Alabama native is the first Musketeer drafted since Edmond Sumner, who went to the Indiana Pacers in 2017.
Next year's Xavier squad will look quite different with Jones moving on to the NBA and several of his teammates transferring. Fellow guards Souley Boum and Adam Kunkel are no longer eligible to play, and 7-foot center Jack Nunge said he's also saying goodbye to college basketball.
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