For the first time since being waived, former Hornets power forward Kai Jones opened up about the circumstances that led to his release before the regular season began.
Jones’ odd behavior
The off-season saw Kai Jones transition into someone very different from his personality on court, and it’s nothing positive.
His bizarre social media posts, his shocking Instagram lives, him berating his teammates, praising himself constantly as the ‘GOAT’, and telling everybody he can take on basketball greats such as Lebron James led most people to believe that he was either ‘under the influence’ or was just downright problematic and an attention-seeker.
On the other side, though, there were also a number of people who showed their compassion to the player, giving him the benefit of the doubt and saying that he must either be mentally unstable or is just going through a really rough patch.
And as it turns out, the latter was right.
In an interview with Vizion Podcast, Jones admitted that before getting waived by the Hornets, he hadn’t been his best self. His great-grandmother had passed away, and in a state of grief, Jones got himself in a mess.
Kai Jones on why he requested a trade:
“They were concerned about my social media, my sleeping patterns. They wanted me to see a therapist. I ended up going and felt like therapy wasn’t helping. Mitch tells me I’m not allowed to do training camp. That was when I’m like I’m off.” pic.twitter.com/fEzS9OplJ5
— Israel (@iohandles) November 23, 2023
The string of strange behaviors would start, and Hornets, being his organization, approached him. According to Jones, they were concerned about his social media and sleeping patterns, so they suggested that he go to a therapist.
At first, Jones said that he was stubborn and didn’t want to go to therapy because he simply wanted to ‘meditate’, ‘clear his head’, and use his intuitions to figure out his own issues. But as the organization insisted, he ended up going.
Unfortunately, this didn’t work for the 22-year-old.
The next thing he knew, Mitch Kupchak, Hornets President and General Manager, was telling him that he could no longer attend the training camp, which was when he realized that he no longer wanted to be a part of the Hornets.
“Bro, I’m off with this team. How can I play here when they won’t let me do training camp, they’re not allowing me to tryout for my position,” he said.
Jones also added that Kupchak had told him that he had no trade value, to which he disagreed and reasoned out with him why he thought he had value.
Kupchak, however, remained steadfast in his beliefs and proceeded to waive Jones on October 11, 2023.
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