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DENVER — The play sparked all of Damian Jones’ teammates to pat him on the back. He had just stuffed Nuggets guard Will Barton at the rim in the fourth quarter of the Warriors’ eventual 115-108 loss in Denver on Saturday night. And then just like that, Jones headed to the bench after Warriors forward Draymond Green checked into the game.

No matter how short lived, that moment explained why the Warriors recalled Jones this week from their G-League affiliate in Santa Cruz. The Warriors made the move for insurance with veteran forward David West sitting out Friday in Sacramento for rest purposes and Saturday in Denver to attend funeral services of former NBA teammate Rasual Butler, who died with his wife this week in a car crash. The Warriors also wanted Jones to watch the NBA game in person.

“It’s great to have him here,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of Jones. “It’s good to have him with us a little bit, so he feels part of it. He’s not going to play much, obviously, because we’re loaded at that position and it’s hard to play everybody. But I’m really pleased with his development.”

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Jones, in his second season, was recently named on the Midseason All-NBA G-League team after averaging 15.3 points while shooting a league-leading 67.6 percent from the field, 8.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.09 blocks with Santa Cruz. That has not been enough to warrant stints with the Warriors, who have various frontcourt options in starting center Zaza Pachulia, West, veteran center JaVale McGee and rookie forward Jordan Bell. Still, the Warriors are high enough on Jones’ potential that they made the third year of his contract fully guaranteed.

“I just keep improving,” Jones said. “I just keep putting in the work and watching yourself improve every day and work more efficiently.”

The Warriors mostly want Jones to experience that growth with playing time. But they also value Jones watching the Warriors play up close when his schedule permits. While Santa Cruz runs similar sets, Jones has picked up many more details after seeing the Warriors’ star players execute them. He also had some rare playing time, including a minute on Friday in Sacramento and four minutes in Denver. He had some learning moments too, including committing a turnover against the Nuggets.

“Everybody has good chemistry and feeds off each other,” said Jones, who plans to return to Santa Cruz on Sunday. “It’s a good thing to learn from the G-League and having the ball movement and stuff like that.”



Super Bowl prediction

Warriors forward Draymond Green said he hopes the Philadelphia Eagles win Super Bowl LII because he is friends with Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham. Green, a Michigan State alum, added, “Tom Brady went to Michigan. So I hope he loses.” Incidentally, Graham also went to the University of Michigan.