Local Utah Stars Dillon Jones And Branden Carlson Become Champions
After the Oklahoma City Thunder dispatched the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA finals, the story lines were abundant.
Oklahoma City’s first ever NBA championship coming via the youth movement.
The MVP winning the title and the scoring title in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Thunder’s 84 wins in a single season.
Tyrese Haliburton leaving it all on the floor.
The rise of Jalen Williams as a superstar himself.
TJ McConnell and his heroic effort.
And, the parity within the NBA itself as of now.
The list goes on and on, as it should after the first Game 7 in the finals since 2016.
But don’t let all those storylines distract you from the local angle.
Two former college ball players right here in Utah will now forever be known as NBA champions getting it done in their rookie seasons.
Firstly, Dillon Jones from Weber State.
Jones, the 26th overall pick in last year’s draft by the Washington Wizards, had his rights shipped to Oklahoma City right after the pick was made.
Dillon was the 2nd ever Wildcat to be selected in the first round, next to the famed Damian Lillard.
A Wildcat lifer, Jones played from 2020 to 2024 in Ogden, appearing in a grand total of 119 games while donning the Wildcat purple.
Starting in nearly 80 percent of those games, Jones was a staple as a consistent scorer, a creator and a big bodied guard who could punish mismatches.
He was the Big Sky’s Most Valuable Player last year while snagging All-Big Sky honors.
Putting up double digit scoring every time he took the floor, Jones put up 20.8 points a night to pair with 5.2 assist and 9.8 boards his senior season.
Other accolades are incredibly well documented by weberstatesports.com:
“He finished the season 11th in the nation in double-doubles with 18 and was eighth in minutes played and third in defensive rebounds. He was also 23rd in the country in scoring and 23rd in overall rebounds per game.
Jones scored in double figures in all 31 games and scored 20 or more 17 times and a career-high of 30 points twice. He also had nine assists in a game four times during the season.
In the February 29 win over Northern Colorado, Jones tied his career-high with 30 points, had a career-high 23 rebounds, and tied his career with nine assists. He's the first player to post 30, 23, and 9 in a game since at least the 2010-11 season.
In four years at Weber State, Jones played in 119 career games at Weber State and started in 96 games. He finished his career ranking in the Weber State all-time top 10 in 13 statistical categories.
He is Weber State's all-time leader in steals and ranks second in assists, second in free throws made, third in rebounding, and fifth in points. He also ranks fourth in Big Sky history in rebounds. He also has 56 career double-doubles, the second-most in WSU history.“
To say Jones was a big part of Weber State and their on court production would be a severe understatement, as he’s set to go throughout WSU history as one of the best to do it in Ogden.
During his rookie season in OKC, Jones saw 54 games in the regular season even totaling 3 starts.
Averaging 10 minutes a go, Jones struggled to find his shooting rhythm with a 38 percent field goal mark and despite never being an automatic deep threat in college, his three pointers made percentage dropped to 25.4 %.
His season totals were 2.5 PPG, 1.1 assists, and 2.2 boards.
His rookie season highs were:
13 points
10 rebounds
5 assists
The skill set is intact, evident by preseason efforts and the flashes have been there, if minutes ever open up, Jones could be a fun player to pay attention to down the road in his pro career.
But at the very least, in one season Jones is a NBA champion as a member of the Thunder even appearing in ten postseason games, including a ten point, 4/5 shooting performance against the Timberwolves in garbage time.
The next man up is the University of Utah’s Branden Carlson, who’s path to OKC took a more winding route his first season at the pro level.
Carlson went undrafted before singing a two-way contract with the Toronto Raptors where he was waived prior to the start of the regular season.
After spending the first couple weeks of the season without a home, OKC would offer Carlson a chance.
It isn't quite as simple as that however as Carlson would jump through being waived, fight through 10-day contracts and more all before eventually signing a two-way deal to suit up for both the Thunder and their G-league affiliate.
Carlson’s tenacity and determination is no surprise to Ute fans who watched him battle in 146 games through 5 years at the U.
From the get go, Branden was a starter for this Utah squad, getting the nod in 140 of his 146 Utah appearances.
The type of player who got better every season, Carlson was a stretch big, great off the ball and a solid rim protector.
His last season in Utah witnessed the 7 footer put up totals of 17 points a night, 6.6 boards and 1.5 blocks while shooting nearly 38 percent from distance and 50 percent from the field.
He wrapped up his time in Salt Lake City as the all time leader in blocks and games played while being named to the All-Pac-12 first team.
Utahutes.com lays out his senior tallies as such:
- Only Pac-12 player to record at least 1,800 points (1,892), 800 rebounds (842), 150 assists (170) and 200 blocks (241)
- Just 1-of-6 Runnin’ Utes ever to record at least 1,800 career points and 800 career rebounds
- Helped lead Utah to the NIT Semifinals
- Guided Utah to 22-15 overall record, the first 20-win season since 2017-18
- Was named a top-10 finalist for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award
- Led the team in scoring (17.0 ppg), rebounds (6.6 rpg) and blocks (1.5) on the year
- Led the team in Pac-12 play averaging 17.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 blocks
- His 64 threes made him just 1-of-3 players 6-10 or taller to make at least 60 threes and just 1-of-9 to do so during his playing career (2019-24)
- First-player since Keith Van Horn in 1996-97 to score 30-plus points in four games or more in a season
- Reached double-figures in 28-of-36 games and finished the season with 6 double-doubles
- Had double-digit points in 8 of his last 10 games – including five-straight to end his career
- Posted 31 points with 4 rebounds and 5 blocks in thrilling win over Wake Forest at Charleston Classic
- The only 7-footer since 1996-97 to record 34 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in a game (vs. Washington) and just 1-of-2 listed centers to do so in that time span
- Pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds against #8/8 Arizona at home to go with 27 points
- Scored the game-winning put-back to give Utah the 70-69 win at UCLA (2/18)
- Dropped 30 points with 10 rebounds and 4 blocks on senior day vs. Cal (3/2)
- 40 points at Oregon State (3/7) is the first for a Runnin’ Ute since Keith Van Horn (2/15/97)
- Career-high 40 points at Oregon State was just the 25th time a player from the Pac-12 had scored 40-plus in a game since 1996-97 and just the 19th player during that time span
(https://utahutes.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/branden-carlson/13963)
Despite a rough stretch of Utah hoops, Carlson was a constant bright spot on a nightly basis cementing himself with some of the storied Utes to go through the program.
Despite all the unknowns and ups and downs through his rookie season in the NBA, Carlson would appear in 32 total regular season games for OKC averaging 3.3 points a game. 17 rebounds and 0.7 blocks.
Despite not having a postseason appearance Carlson finished the regular season playing 39 minutes against New Orleans where he dropped 26 points, ripped down 10 boards and had 3 blocks.
All of these were his season highs.
With the Thunder winning it all, Carlson does as well.
For both of these hoopers with local ties, we can’t wait to see what comes next, but both have already had pretty stellar starts to their young careers doing what many only dream of.
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