Herb Jones missed 62 games during the 2024-25 NBA season, but that didn’t dim the New Orleans Pelicans’ interest in the former Alabama standout’s future with the team.

Jones and the Pelicans have agreed on a three-year, $68 million contract extension that could keep the forward with New Orleans through the 2029-30 season, ESPN reported on Thursday night.

Jones is halfway through a four-year, $53.828 million contract signed after his second NBA season. The new deal will extend that contract, closing with a player-option season in 2029-30.

Jones played in only 20 games last season, making his final appearance on Jan. 8, before a torn labrum that required surgery took him off the court. Jones averaged 10.3 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 steals in the 2024-25 campaign.

Through four NBA seasons, Jones has averaged 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals in 240 regular-season games.

Jones finished sixth in the voting for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award for the 2021-22 season and fifth in the voting for the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for the 2023-24 season, when he made the NBA’s All-Defensive team.

Jones won the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 4A Player of the Year Award for the 2016-17 season when he led Hale County to the AHSAA championship.

After Hale County, Jones played four seasons at Alabama. He concluded his college career with the Crimson Tide as the SEC Player of the Year and the SEC Defensive Player of the Year for the 2020-21 season.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.