FORT WAYNE, Ind. – The NBA G League announced today Fort Wayne Mad Ants forward DeQuan Jones has been named the 2017-18 NBA G League Most Improved Player. Voted on by the league's 26 head coaches and general managers, the award honors the player who demonstrated the most significant improvement during the 2017-18 season.
Jones averaged 18.4 points, 4.9 rebounds and shot 50.8 percent in 30.6 minutes per game during the 2017-18 season. He also poured in two 40-point games this season.
The University of Miami alumnus surged in 2018, particularly in February. Jones averaged 26.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and shot 59.7 percent from the floor in 34.5 minutes per contest through eight games that month, leading to the Player of the Month award.
The improvement for Jones was on full display in Los Angeles at NBA All-Star Weekend, where he also won the 2018 NBA G League Slam Dunk Contest.
He started 48 of 49 games in 2017-18, and was held out of the last game of the regular season after the Mad Ants secured the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
Jones and Fort Wayne will host the No. 3 seed, Erie BayHawks, tonight in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The game will tip at 7 p.m. on ESPNU and the WatchESPN App.
The winner will host Raptors 905 on Friday in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Tickets can be purchased by calling the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Ticket Office at 260-483-1111 or the Mad Ants Ticket Office at 260-469-4667.