Only one Chicago Bull sits in the top three in net rating, plus/minus, true shooting percentage, assists, and steals. It’s not $100 million man Josh Giddey, sophomore sensation Matas Buzelis, or former All-Star Nikola Vucevic—it’s 25-year-old, 6-foot-1 point guard Tre Jones.

Jones ranks third in net rating, first in plus/minus, third in true shooting percentage, and first in both assists and steals. Through two games, the former San Antonio Spur is averaging 12.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 8.0 assists, and 4.0 steals while shooting 53.3 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from three.

However, those numbers are completely unexpected. Jones wasn’t even projected to start. Chicago entered the season planning to feature Giddey and Coby White in the backcourt, but White’s lingering calf strain has kept him out of the lineup and is expected to sideline him for at least another week. Naturally, most assumed Ayo Dosunmu or Kevin Huerter would slide in next to Giddey as the starting two guard—but Jones’s playmaking and steady hand have proven invaluable to the first unit.

Giddey is a preternatural passer, but he’s not a quick-twitch point guard comfortable initiating the offense under heavy ball pressure—that was White’s job. And Chicago quickly learned that when defenses face-guarded Giddey, there wasn’t another reliable option to organize the offense.

Re-signing Tre Jones solved unforeseeable problems

Donovan has entrusted Jones as the Bulls’ secondary playmaker, and it’s paid off. He’s averaging 8.0 assists per game and leads the team in drives at 18.0 per contest, fifth-most in the NBA. On those drives, he leads the league in both passes and assists, and the points he’s generating have been a major boon for Chicago’s offense.

Jones isn’t just vital to Chicago’s offense; he’s equally important to the Bulls’ league-best defense (yes, they lead the NBA in defensive rating). In the team’s 110–98 win over the Orlando Magic, Jones drew the Desmond Bane assignment and held him to just six points as his primary matchup, while Bane scored 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting overall. Jones’s relentlessness at the point of attack and ability to fight through screens visibly disrupted Bane’s rhythm.

Moreover, Chicago didn’t have another player suited to defend Bane. Normally, that responsibility would fall to Isaac Okoro, but the 6-foot-5 wing instead matched up with the 6-foot-10 forward Paolo Banchero. Even at 6-foot-1 and under 200 pounds, Jones has increased the Bulls’ starting lineup’s versatility.

Jones isn’t your typical versatility-increasing guard. He doesn’t fit a coveted archetype in today’s NBA, which helps explain why he signed a modest three-year, $24 million contract in the offseason. Regardless of his stature, modest athleticism, and unusual reluctance to shoot from deep, he’s more efficient and savvier than 99 percent of the league’s players, which is both why he signed at a discounted rate and why the Bulls chose to re-sign him.

Through just two games, he’s already proven himself indispensable. Jones might not have been the flashiest re-signing over the offseason, not even on his own team, but he’s firmly in the running for the best bargain-bin signing of the summer.