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Samuel "Sam" Jones (born June 24, 1933 in Wilmington, North Carolina) is a former professional basketball player. He graduated from North Carolina Central University after a spectacular career there. He scored 1,770 points playing for Hall of Fame coach John McLendon. He was a 4-year letter winner and was a 3-time All-Conference team.

Jones spent all of his twelve seasons in the NBA with the Boston Celtics who drafted him in the first round in 1957. Jones was known as a clutch scorer, and scored over 15,000 points in his career. He participated in five NBA All-Star Games, and is usually mentioned as the 4th best guard of the 1960s, behind Oscar Robertson, Jerry West and Hal Greer. Jones was named to the All-NBA Second Team 3 straight years (1965-67) and he played on ten championship teams (1959-66 and 1968-69) — a total exceeded only by teammate Bill Russell in NBA history. His height: 6-foot-4 (1.93 cm); Weight: 200 pounds (97 kg).

Jones was originally claimed by the Minneapolis Lakers, but returned to college upon completion of military service, and therefore voided NBA rules.

Jones’ perfect form when shooting a jump shot, along with his great clutch shooting led opponents to nickname him "The Shooter". Opposing coaches often shook their heads in disbelief, and many exclaimed, “Sam Jones may not have invented the jump shot, but he sure was the first player to perfect it.”^{[citation needed]}

At 6-foot-4, Jones was the prototype of the tall guard who could run the floor, bang the boards and had a rangy offensive game that gave opponents fits. One of the "Jones Boys" in Boston, Sam teamed with K.C. Jones in the Celtics backcourt to create havoc in NBA arenas around the country.

He led Boston in scoring in the 1962-63 NBA season (19.7 points per game), 1964-65 NBA season (25.9) and 1965-66 NBA season (23.5). He produced four consecutive seasons averaging 20 points or better (1965-68). He owns Boston's fourth best single-game scoring output (51 points vs. Detroit Pistons on October 29, 1965. He scored 2,909 points in 154 playoff games (18.9 ppg), 15th best in history.

Since retiring from the NBA, Jones has worked as a substitute teacher in Montgomery County, Maryland.

He was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984. In 1970 he was named to the NBA's 25th Anniversary team, and in 1996, he was named as 1 of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.

He is the father of the actor Sam Jones III.

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National Basketball Association | NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar | Nate Archibald | Paul Arizin | Charles Barkley | Rick Barry | Elgin Baylor | Dave Bing | Larry Bird | Wilt Chamberlain | Bob Cousy | Dave Cowens | Billy Cunningham | Dave DeBusschere | Clyde Drexler | Julius Erving | Patrick Ewing | Walt Frazier | George Gervin | Hal Greer | John Havlicek | Elvin Hayes | Magic Johnson | Sam Jones | Michael Jordan | Jerry Lucas | Karl Malone | Moses Malone | Pete Maravich | Kevin McHale | George Mikan | Earl Monroe | Hakeem Olajuwon | Shaquille O'Neal | Robert Parish | Bob Pettit | Scottie Pippen | Willis Reed | Oscar Robertson | David Robinson | Bill Russell | Dolph Schayes | Bill Sharman | John Stockton | Isiah Thomas | Nate Thurmond | Wes Unseld | Bill Walton | Jerry West | Lenny Wilkens | James Worthy