🏀Front Office2026-27
 
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OVR

Herbert Jones

New Orleans Pelicans · #2 · Plus starter
SF6'7"206 lbage 275 yrs expAlabamaGreensboro, AL
3rd best of 13 on NOPworth +5.4 wins to the rotation
OFF62DEF76
Elite perimeter defender & playmaker
NOP
New Orleans Pelicans
Western · Southwest · proj. 34-48 (▼1.7)
→
All-Defensive

An elite, switchable wing stopper — 83rd-percentile perimeter defense, 1.6 steals a night, and the length to guard one through four. The offense is purely complementary (8.9 points, a shaky 49% true shooting and 31% from deep this year), but as a low-usage 3-and-D glue piece on a team-friendly deal, he's exactly what a contender wants.

8.9
PPG
3.4
RPG
2.8
APG
1.6
SPG
0.5
BPG
GP 56MPG 28.4FG% 38.33P% 30.9FT% 80.6TS% 49.1USG% 15.2PER 9.1BPM -3.1VORP -0.5EPM +2.4
2025-26 regular season · bars are percentile at his position

NBA player ratings

0–99 · 2025-26 form
Perimeter defense93
Playmaking85
Rim protection76
Shooting72
Scoring59
Inside finishing54
Rebounding53

Skill ratings are 2025-26 per-game and advanced stats (Basketball-Reference) ranked 0–99 within position (guards vs guards, bigs vs bigs). Overall is anchored to EPM impact on a non-linear curve, nudged by these skills; Offense and Defense come from box plus-minus. A player who missed the latest season is shown from his most recent one.

Career

2021-22 to 2025-26 · 5 seasons
9.9
PPG
3.7
RPG
2.5
APG
296
GAMES
Points 2,929Win Shares 16.4Starts 287Best season 2023-24 · 11.0 ppg
Games played, last three seasons62%

Regular season, 2003-04 onward (Basketball-Reference). Averages are weighted by games played; honours count awards won, not finishes. “Current players” means the 802 who played in the last three seasons.

Trajectory

2023-24 → 2025-26 · age 25 → 27
▼Declining

Herbert, at 27, is trending downward — 4.2 → 0.2 wins of value over the window.

Age curve▼ Behind curve
Developing slower than his age would suggest.
2026-27 forecast▲ 6.4 wins (+6.1)
Assumes a normal season; he played 56 games last year. Range 4.6–8.1 wins.
Production (BPM)+0.6 → -3.1-3.726-27 forecast -2.0
His on-court production has slipped.
2023-24: +0.6 · 76 games2024-25: -3.6 · 20 games2025-26: -3.1 · 56 games2026-27: -2.0 (forecast)23-2425-2626-27
Value to team (wins)4.2 → 0.2-3.926-27 forecast 6.4
His win contribution is trending down.
2023-24: 4.2 · 76 games2024-25: 0.6 · 20 games2025-26: 0.2 · 56 games2026-27: 6.4 (forecast)23-2425-2626-27
Contract value2026-27: worth $31.7M vs $14.9M salary+$16.8M
His play is projected to be worth more than he is paid.
$14.9M salary2023-24: $11.0M · 76 games2024-25: $2.3M · 20 games2025-26: $1.8M · 56 games2026-27: $31.7M (forecast)23-2425-2626-27
Current deal: $14,898,786 cap hit · through '30. On the contract row the flat dashed line is this salary, so the gap to the 2026-27 forecast is the surplus.

Seasons from Basketball-Reference (2023-24 → 2025-26). Production is box plus-minus, a per-possession measure. Value is VORP-based wins, so it also counts games played. Contract value is what each season’s play would fetch on the open market. The dotted 2026-27 point is a forecast: his established level, a year older, assuming a normal season.

Contract

2026-27
$14,898,786Guaranteed
8% of the club’s payroll · 5th of 14 priced deals
Runs through4 seasons
Est. market value$31,736,000 /yr
Surplus+$16,837,214
BARGAINworth more than he is paid

Market value is an estimate, not a reported figure: what his play is forecast to fetch on the open market in 2026-27 — his current rating, a year older. Cap thresholds are projected for 2026-27 until the league sets them.

Plays like

same position

Nearest skill profiles across the seven rating axes — who he plays like, not who is as good. The rating beside each name answers that second question.