Bulls guard Derrick Jones Jr. gets engaged to his girlfriend Shakara

PARIS – It was already a unique week for the forward considering that he’s getting a chance to play a regular season NBA game in France.

But Derrick Jones Jr. made it one of the most special trips of his life on Tuesday evening, two days before his Bulls team faces the Pistons at Accor Arena in Paris.

The forward proposed to his girlfriend, Shakara, in front of his Bulls’ teammates at a dinner in Paris, with the Bulls capturing the moment on their social media channels.

While speaking on a microphone at the restaurant, Jones walked through the crowd and towards Shakara.

“Man, it’s about that time,” said Jones as he approached her. “So I’ve just got a question for Shakara: Will you make me the luckiest man in the world, will you marry me?”

“Hell yeah!’ said Shakara after he asked.

After Jones put on the ring, he stood up, spread his arms, and screamed “She said yes!” as his teammates gave him a loud cheer.

Shortly after, the couple posed for a few pictures.

A native of Chester, Pennsylvania, Jones is in his seventh year in the NBA and his second with the Bulls after joining the team in 2021 in a three-way trade with the Blazers and Cavaliers. In 33 games this season, all of them coming off the bench, the forward is averaging 5.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in an average of 15.1 minutes.

Jones’s production was similar in 2021-2022 in Chicago as he got 5.6 points and 3.3 rebounds in 51 games, which included eight starts.

Entering NBA in 2016 as an undrafted free agent after one season at UNLV, the forward has played with the Suns, Heat, and Blazers with a career average of 6.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 313 career games.