Let's be honest: getting cut from an NBA team mid-flight stinks. It stinks at 30,000 feet, it stinks on the tarmac, and it stinks for the 48 hours you're waiting for your phone to ring. Isaac Jones lived all of that. And then he landed in Detroit, which might be the only place on earth that respects that story more than Pullman does.
Jones got the tap on the shoulder from the Kings somewhere over Colorado or California, sat through the rest of the flight, texted his wife, didn't sleep. That's the part that matters to us. Not because we enjoy watching a Coug struggle, but because we know the arc. Jones went from a pipe supply store near Spanaway to Wenatchee Valley to Idaho to WSU, where he helped drag the Cougs to their first NCAA Tournament in 16 years. That path teaches you how to handle a bad flight. It also teaches you how to handle Detroit.
The Pistons offered him a two-way contract, and Jones has been exactly what you'd expect: 22.2 points, 8.9 boards, almost three steals a game for the Motor City Cruise. He earned G League Player of the Month in March and a spot on the All-NBA G League First Team. He's also the oldest guy on Detroit's Summer League roster at 26, which means he's now the guy telling the rookies to loosen up. That's a role we can get behind.
There's a nice little connection here to another Coug story we've been tracking. Jones and Detroit's first-round pick Ebuka Okorie both played for Kyle Smith, Jones at WSU, Okorie at Stanford. They talk about it in practice, about the assistants and the players they share. It's not a headline, but it's the kind of thread that makes the basketball world smaller than you think. Meanwhile, back in Pullman, the Cougs just landed a 2027 guard from Bothell, and the annual Cougs-Huskies hoops rivalry went exhibition-only after 108 years. It's a weird time to be a WSU basketball fan, but Jones reminds us what the program can produce when it gets it right.
Here's the takeaway: Isaac Jones is going to make the Pistons' regular-season roster. Not because of sentiment, but because Detroit values exactly what he does, rim-running, rebounding, defensive activity, and he's already shown he can expand his range. He took four threes in a Summer League game. He's working on it. That's the kind of detail that turns a two-way contract into a standard deal, and it's the kind of detail that keeps a Coug on the floor when the plane lands.