Former Mountain Brook High School star Colby Jones was announced as the Charlotte Hornets’ selection at No. 34 in the 77th NBA Draft on Thursday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

But two hours and 23 minutes after the Hornets had welcomed the Xavier guard to “Buzz City,” the NBA team had another announcement to make about Jones: He had been traded to the Boston Celtics.

Charlotte announced Jones and Washington State forward Mouhamed Gueye, who had been chosen five picks after Jones on Thursday night, had been traded to Boston for the 31st selection, James Nnaji, a center for FC Barcelona in the Spanish ACB league and EuroLeague.

Twenty-two minutes after that – at 1:29 a.m. CDT Friday – the Celtics announced Jones had been traded to the Sacramento Kings for Thursday night’s 38th pick, Arkansas forward Jordan Walsh, and a second-round selection in the 2024 NBA Draft.

Boston made five trades during or after the draft, and the Celtics said four of them, including the one involving Jones, “are not yet finalized.”

At his post-draft press conference, Kings general manager Monte McNair prefaced his remarks by reading a couple of things “so I don’t get in trouble with the league,” including that Sacramento “had agreed in principle to acquire the draft rights to the 34th pick, Colby Jones. The trade is not yet final.”

But while McNair couldn’t talk about the trade, he could talk about Jones, whom he called “a productive and smart utility player, a defender, a two-way player, somebody that we’re really excited to add to the culture that (coach) Mike (Brown), myself and the rest of us are building here.”

In the 2022-23 season, Sacramento posted a 48-34 record and made the playoffs for the first time since 2006.

A 6-foot-6 guard, Jones averaged 15.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.3 steals for Xavier in the 2022-23 season, when he earned second-team All-Big East recognition.

The Musketeers posted two victories in the 2023 NCAA tournament. In 2022, Xavier won the NIT, with Jones receiving the Most Outstanding Player Award in that tourney.

“I think with Colby,” McNair said, “a lot of guys, especially as you watch the playoffs, the guys that are versatile, they can do a lot of different things on the floor because you don’t know what’s going to be thrown at you. Colby showed that at Xavier through his three years, especially this year as he took on an even bigger role, so I have no doubt he’ll be able to figure that out at the next level.”

Jones went to Xavier as the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s 2020 Class 7A Player of the Year. He averaged 25.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.5 steals as a senior at Mountain Brook.

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