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 eight championships, the most in league history. The Oilers play in the Basketball Africa Leagu ...
of the
Ugandan NBL and the
Basketball Africa League
The Basketball Africa League (BAL) is Africa's premier men's basketball league. The league consists of twelve teams, each qualified through their domestic competition, similar to the format of the UEFA Champions League. The league is a joint eff ...
(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, Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta region, approximately 96 miles north of the state capital, Jackson, Missis ...
, 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 NCAA Division I competition. The school's team competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and plays h ...
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 Laskar may refer to:
* Rejaul Karim Laskar, an Indian politician and scholar of India's foreign policy and diplomacy
* Jacques Laskar (b. 1955), a French astronomer
* Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
* Lascars, Indian sailors who worked for t ...
of the
ASEAN Basketball League
The ASEAN Basketball League (ABL) is a professional men's basketball league in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong/Macau, which includes six teams from Southeast Asian nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), one tea ...
. In 2018, he signed with
Al Fateh
''Al-Fateh'' ( ar, الفاتح, "the Conqueror") is an Islamic children's magazine in Arabic. It is published biweekly in London, and is also posted online. It began publication in September 2002, and its 108th issue was released in mid-Septembe ...
of the
Saudi Premier League
The Saudi Pro League (SPL for short) ( ar, دوري المحترفين السعودي, link=no, ''Dawriyy al-Muḥtarifayni as-Suʿūdī''), known as the Roshn Saudi League (RSL for short) for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of associat ...
.
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 foot ...
of the
Egyptian Basketball Premier League
The Egyptian Basketball Premier League () is the top professional basketball division of the Egyptian basketball league system. Administrated by the Egyptian Basketball Federation (EBBFED), it is contested by 16 teams, with the two lowest-placed te ...
. After one season, he signed with
Misr Insurance Misr or MISR may refer to:
* Misr, the romanized Arabic name for Egypt
* misr, singular of Arabic '' amsar'', which were early Arabic "garrison towns"
* Misr (domain name), a top-level Internet domain name
* Misr, a variant of the AKM assault rifl ...
, before joining
Smouha.
In 2022, he joined 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 eight championships, the most in league history. The Oilers play in the Basketball Africa Leagu ...
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 semi-professional basketball club from the Matero neighbourhood of Lusaka. The team plays in the Zambia Basketball League and has won the championship a record 10 times. The Magic features many players who are also p ...
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). The organization of the qualifiers is in hands of FIBA Africa. The first qualifying rounds were held on 16 October ...
. Later, he scored 40 points in the game against
Cape Town Tigers
Cape Town Tigers is a South African basketball club based in Cape Town. The team is located in the Gugulethu township. Established in 2019 by three American business partners, the club has won the South African national championship in 2021 and 20 ...
on November 26, 2022.
In the
2023 BAL season
The 2023 BAL season, also known as BAL Season 3, is the third season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL). The season began on 11 March 2023 and will end on 27 May 2023, with the playoffs and finals being 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.
[{{Cite web , date=2023-04-30 , title=Al Gezira lands Falando Jones, ex City Oilers , url=https://www.afrobasket.com/Egypt/news/868547/Al-Gezira-lands-Falando-Jones-ex-City-Oilers , access-date=2024-05-02 , website=www.afrobasket.com]
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