[2] He is the only African-American coach other than Bill Russell to have won multiple NBA championships,[3][4] and one of eight players to ever achieve the basketball Triple Crown.

[6] Jones played college basketball at the University of San Francisco and, along with Bill Russell, guided the Dons to NCAA championships in 1955 and 1956.

[8] During their time with the Dons, Russell and Jones led the team to a then-record 55-game win streak[9] (including an undefeated 29–0 record during the 1955–56 season) and helped pioneer a play that later became known as the alley-oop.

[14] Jones is one of only eight players in basketball history to achieve the basketball Triple Crown — winning an NCAA championship, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal,[15][16][17] joining Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Jerry Lucas, Clyde Lovellette, Quinn Buckner, and Anthony Davis.

[19] Jones then reunited with former teammate Bill Sharman as the assistant coach for the 1971–72 NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.

[20] One week after Jones' only season with the Conquistadors ended with his resignation, he returned to the NBA and agreed with the Baltimore Bullets, who were in the process of relocating to Washington, D.C., to take over for Gene Shue as head coach for the soon-to-be-renamed Capital Bullets on June 18, 1973; the team would add Washington to its name beginning in 1974.

Being swept by the Golden State Warriors in the 1975 NBA Finals and a seven-game loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals the following year resulted in Jones' contract not being renewed on May 7, 1976.

The Pistons' head coach at that time, Don Chaney, had previously played for Jones with the Celtics.

[30] Jones returned to the professional coaching ranks in 1997, guiding the New England Blizzard of the fledgling women's American Basketball League (1996–1998) through its last 1+1⁄2 seasons of existence.

The Blizzard made the playoffs in his second year as head coach, but they were summarily dispatched by the San Jose Lasers.