Tyus Jones of the Suns talks about his brother, Chris Paul of the Spurs, playing with his former team

Phoenix Suns point guard Tyus Jones says it’s “not a given” for us to play in the NBA with his younger brother Tre Jones, a backup point guard with the San Antonio Spurs.

He described both in the NBA as “surreal.”

Jones spoke about his brother on Monday before the Suns face the Spurs (11-9) in their final NBA Cup game in West Group B on Tuesday night. Tre Jones (left shoulder sprain) was ruled out of the game. This would have been the 11th matchup in their sibling rivalry, with Tyus holding a 9-1 lead.

“I didn’t know the exact number, but I knew there was only one loss, and it was last year,” Jones said with a big grin. “I had a good streak, but I knew it was one-sided.”

Tyus played for Washington in the 118-113 loss to Tre on Jan. 29 in San Antonio. Tyus had 15 points, a game-high nine assists and two steals, compared to Tre’s 11 points and eight assists.

The Spurs met Phoenix (11-8) last season on October 31 and November 2, 2023 and won both games. Tre had 10 points, three assists, a steal and a key block in the final minutes of a 115-114 comeback win after trailing by as many as 20 points in that Halloween game. In the next Suns-Spurs meeting, Tre had 12 points, a game-high 10 assists and five rebounds.

Nine-year veteran Tyus is averaging a team-best 11.5 points and 7.2 assists per game in his first season with Phoenix. He signed a one-year contract with the Suns in July. Tre is in his fifth year and, due to injuries, averaged 4.1 points and 3.3 assists in just eight appearances this season. Tyus and Tre are among the top 10 in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 6.52 and 5.2, respectively.

Tre and Tyus have their own natural brotherhood and both are products of Duke’s esteemed “brotherhood” basketball fraternity. Older brother Tyus, 28, was the starting point guard on Duke’s 2015 national title team and became a can’t-miss draft player by his hometown team Minnesota. Tre, 24, was drafted by San Antonio after earning 2020 ACC Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors as a sophomore.

They are one of five sets of brothers who are active in the league. Gilbert Perry graduates Jalen Williams and Cody Williams play for Oklahoma City and Utah. There’s also Chicago’s Lonzo Ball and Charlotte’s LaMelo Ball, Detroit’s Ausar Thompson and Houston’s Amen Thompson, and Indiana’s Obi Toppin and New York’s Jacob Toppin.

When Jones was asked to rate the current pair of brothers in the league, he thought for a moment and smiled.

“That’s a tough question,” Jones said. “I don’t know if I have a ranking. I will take fifth place in this regard.”

Even though Tyus and Tre aren’t teammates, Tyus was excited about the offseason news of Chris Paul signing a one-year deal with San Antonio. 39-year-old future Hall of Famer Paul teaming up with Spurs’ young superstar Victor Wembanyama was the biggest storyline. For Tyus, it was an opportunity for Paul to mentor Tre as well.

“Obviously everyone knows who Chris is as a player,” Jones said. “Everywhere he was, he won, he contributed to the victory.” And who better could you learn from as a point guard, be there every day, ask questions and think about things? And when I saw that move (Paul moving to Spurs), I knew it would be a good thing for Tre.”

Tuesday’s Suns-Spurs game marked Paul’s second return to Phoenix since he was traded to Washington from the Suns in June 2023 as part of the blockbuster deal for Bradley Beal. Tyus Jones and Chris Paul didn’t share the floor for Washington last season because Paul was traded to Golden State within two weeks of being sent to Washington.

Prior to the Suns’ current Big 3 of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Beal, their former Big 3 of Paul, Booker and Deandre Ayton helped lead the team to the 2021 NBA Finals and posted their best regular season ever with 64 wins .

Paul ranks seventh in the league with 10.7 points and 8.3 assists, leads the Spurs in steals with 1.4, and has solid shooting distributions of .453/.375/1.0.

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Tyus Jones of the Suns talks about his brother, Chris Paul of the Spurs, playing with his former team

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