Falando Cortez Jones (born May 17, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the

City Oilers City Oilers is a basketball club based in Lugogo, Kampala, Uganda. The team competes in the Ugandan National Basketball League (NBL), where it has won 10 championships, the most in league history. The Oilers currently also play in the Basketball A ...

of the Ugandan NBL and the

Basketball Africa League The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is the premier men's basketball league in Africa. Founded in 2019, the league was established and is co-organized by NBA Africa and the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Each season typically r ...

(BAL). He was the scoring champion of the BAL in the 2023 season.

College career

Jones, originally from

Greenwood, Mississippi Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, and 130 miles south of the rive ...

, played for

Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils basketball The Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils basketball team represents Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Mississippi, in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division I competition. The school's team comp ...

team from 2010 to 2012. In 51 games for the Delta Devils, he averaged 8.4 points and 3.9 rebounds.

Professional career

Jones began his professional career with the Finnish second division club

Porvoon Tarmo The Korisliiga is the top-tier professional basketball league in Finland, comprising the top 12 teams of the country. In its current format, each team plays all other teams two times in the regular season, once at home and once away, for a total o ...

, where he averaged 17.9 points in the 2013–14 season. The following year, in 2014–15, Jones played for Indonesian club Laskar Dreya South Sumatra of the ASEAN Basketball League. In 2018, he signed with Al Fateh of the

Saudi Premier League The Saudi Pro League (SPL), also known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL) for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Saudi Arabia and the highest level of the Saudi football league system. The SPL is regarded as th ...

. In 2019, Jones moved to Egyptian club

Horse Owners' Club Horse Owners' Club (), also known as Ashab Aljead, is an Egyptian sports and cultural club based in Alexandria, Egypt. Founded on 23 August 1934, it is located on the 14th of May Bridge Road. The club exists of a basketball, Association football ...

of the

Egyptian Basketball Premier League The Egyptian Basketball Premier League () is the top professional basketball division of the Egyptian basketball league system. Administered by the Egyptian Basketball Federation (EBBFED), it is contested by 16 teams, with the two lowest-placed tea ...

. After one season, he signed with Misr Insurance, before joining

Smouha Smouha () is an upper-class district in the centre of Alexandria, Egypt. It is home to the Security Directorate of Alexandria and the Smouha Sporting Club, Smouha's central roundabout (Victor Emmanuel Square) connects between other areas in Alexa ...

. In 2022, he joined the

of Uganda. Jones was instrumental in the Oilers' efforts to qualify for their first-ever BAL season. On November 15, Jones scored 15 points against

Matero Magic The Matero Magic are a Zambian professional basketball club from the Matero neighbourhood of Lusaka. Nicknamed the "Tamanga Boys", the team plays in the Zambia Basketball League and has won the championship a record 12 times. Founded in 1996, the ...

in his Oilers debut in the

Road to BAL The Road to BAL, also known as the BAL Qualifying Tournaments, are the qualifying tournaments of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). While the main tournament is co-organised by FIBA and the NBA, the organization of the qualifiers is completely do ...

. Later, he scored 40 points in the game against

Cape Town Tigers The Cape Town Tigers are a South African professional basketball team founded in Cape Town. The Tigers have played in the Basketball National League (BNL) and played in three seasons of the Basketball Africa League (BAL) between 2022 and 2024. ...

on November 26, 2022. In the

2023 BAL season The 2023 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 3, was the third season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 11 March 2023 and ended on 27 May 2023. The 2023 BAL Playoffs, playoffs were played in the BK Arena in Kigali, which ...

, Jones became the league's scoring champion following his 21.6 points per game average. Jones joined Egyptian club Gezira in April 2024. In November 2024, Jones returned to the City Oilers for a third stint.{{Cite web , title=FIBA Africa Zone 5 Weekly Review: 11/11/2024 {{! AfricaBasket , url=https://www.africabasket.net/articles/fiba-africa-zone-5-weekly-review-11-11-2024 , access-date=2024-11-20 , website=www.africabasket.net

References

American men's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Saudi Arabia American expatriate basketball people in Egypt American expatriate basketball people in Finland City Oilers players 1990 births Sportspeople from Greenwood, Mississippi Living people Laskar Dreya South Sumatra players American expatriate basketball people in Uganda Al-Fateh basketball players 21st-century American sportsmen Porvoon Tarmo players