Jones returns

Derrick Jones Jr. is back with the Heat, and this time it could be for good.

Recalled Friday from the Heat’s developmentalleague affiliate, the G League Sioux Falls Skyforce, amid the injuries to Dwyane Wade and Josh Richardson, Jones is now down to three remaining days of NBA eligibility on his two-way contract.

That clock, however, ends with the March 24 close of the G League regular season. By limiting Jones’ time with the team to game nights, it could be enough to get the athletic wing through upcoming games against the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks and Oklahoma City Thunder. Those are the Heat’s only remaining games before the end of the G League season.

“I’m always willing to come here and I have no problem with that,” Jones

said of his back-and-forth schedule. “I love it here and I love it in both places, Sioux Falls and Miami.”

He said he was unaware that after Friday he had only those three remaining NBA days on the two-way contract he signed with the Heat on Dec. 31.

“I just go about my day as I usually would, come into the gym, doing what I love to do, and being able to play the game that I love to play,” he said.

Before Friday, Jones had appeared in 11 games (eight starts) with the Heat, averaging 3.8 points and 2.6 rebounds in 18 minutes per game. He has appeared in 27 G League games (21 starts) this season between the Northern Arizona Suns (16 games) and the Skyforce (11 games), averaging 17.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.74 blocks and 1.22 steals in 29 minutes per game.

iwinderman@sunsentinel .com or Twitter @iraheatbeat