The Golden State Warriors narrowly missed out on Henri Veesar as one of the biggest steals of the entire NBA Draft, before taking 6'7" wing Lajae Jones out of Florida State with the 54th overall pick.
Veesar was projected by some to go late in the first round on Tuesday night, only to fall to the 52nd pick on Wednesday before the Atlanta Hawks swooped in by trading up from 57 in a deal with the L.A. Clippers.
Warriors take Lajae Jones after narrowly missing Henri Veesar
Jones projects as a potential 3-and-D wing with excellent size and physical traits, having averaged 12.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.0 block with Florida State during his senior season.
The shooting consistency is still a work in progress for Jones who will have to improve in that area to earn a long NBA career. He did shoot 38.9% on 3.7 attempts per game with St. Bonaventure during the 2024-25 season, but that dipped to only 32.5% (5.1 attempts) during his year with the Seminoles.
Unlike last year, the Warriors chose to keep the 54th pick on draft night after they obtained it in February's Trayce Jackson-Davis trade, choosing not to trade down or up to potentially take Veesar who quickly became the biggest storyline from the second night of proceedings.
The selection continues Golden State's move towards prioritizing positional size and versatility, having taken Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg with the 11th overall pick as a potentially franchise-altering pick on Tuesday night.
Just like Lendeborg, Jones is an older prospect at 22-years-old, following in the footsteps of the Warriors' recent late second-round picks in Trayce Jackson-Davis, Quinten Post and Will Richard -- all of whom joined the Warriors after extensive college experience.
Warriors might draft-and-stash Lajae Jones
Just because Jackson-Davis, Post and Richard joined Golden State immediately and made impact during their rookie years, doesn't mean the franchise has the same plans for Jones who could be a draft-and-stash player.
According to ESPN draft analyst Jeremy Woo, Jones is a candidate to be stashed overseas for a couple of years to continue his development before joining the Warriors should he prove good enough.
"Jones is a developmental player with appealing size. He has an Israeli passport and could potentially be stashed overseas," Woo wrote.
Jones could still head to Summer League with the Warriors where'd be an interesting player to monitor, though almost all of the attention will surround Lendeborg so long as the 23-year-old is healthy and available to play.
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