When David Jones entered the transfer portal, his phone lit up like a Christmas tree, college coaches trying to get involved with the talented DePaul transfer.

But beating them all to the punch was a player — St. John’s affable big man Joel Soriano. It was the first call Jones fielded.

“He was like, you know what to do,” he recalled in a phone interview with The Post, a few days after verbally committing to St. John’s and coach Mike Anderson’s program, an addition that gives the Johnnies a go-to scorer and highly skilled and versatile star capable of helping them reach the NCAA Tournament. “Joel’s been trying to convince me to go to St. John’s since last year.”

There were a number of reasons Jones picked the Johnnies, from the relationship he quickly built with assistant coach Greg “Shoes” Vetrone to the opportunity to play in an uptempo system that fits his game to joining two pass-first point guards in Posh Alexander and Illinois transfer Andre Curbelo he was very familiar with. Curbelo, in particular, was encouraging him to come to St. John’s, too, sending him text messages about how he thought they could help each other as teammates.

“I’m a fan of his game,” Jones, one of the most coveted transfers on the market, said of Curbelo. “I just love the way he plays, how much he makes his teammates better.”

Teaming with Soriano, his close friend, was up there. The two played together on the Dominican Republic national team, and Soriano has been in Jones’ ear for a while about coming to St. John’s, and how he could replace last year’s star, Julian Champagnie, as the team’s top perimeter scorer.

Jones, a rising junior and former four-star recruit who averaged 14.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists last year, also liked the idea of calling New York City — and its large Latin community — home. He has family and friends in the area and spent part of the weekend in the city in Washington Heights, which made him feel like he was back home in the Dominican Republic.

Jones said he did discuss potential name, image and likeness opportunities with the St. John’s coaching staff, but it was far down the list of reasons he opted to come to Queens. As an international student in the country on a student visa, he has things he has to work out before making money off NIL. He doesn’t have any deals at the moment.

After visiting St. John’s, Jones was considering visiting Memphis. But he opted against it and committed to the Johnnies. He felt Queens was the right place for him — in particular because of Soriano and Curbelo.

“We’re Latinos. We understand each other. We speak the same language,” he said. “It’s like family.”

Jones didn’t want to make any predictions of what this team can do next year, with a trio of himself, Curbelo and Alexander who all have the potential to be all-league players. He prefers to do his talking on the court. But he is excited.

“I think we’re going to do something special in New York,” Jones said.