FORT LAUDERDALE — The father watches the son’s games from one side of the country.

“Great first round,” Popeye Jones said of the Florida Panthers ’ series against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The son watches the father’s games from the other side of the country.

“They’re having a tough time with Kawhi right now,” Seth Jones said of the Denver Nuggets’ loss in Thursday’s Game 6 against the Los Angeles Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard.

It’s hard to keep up with the Joneses in springs like this, sometimes even for the Joneses themselves. Two sports. Two playoffs. Two busy family members in their respective post-season bubbles — and it was three, considering another son, Caleb, the youngest, was just eliminated with the Los Angeles Kings from the playoffs.

“You want a busy schedule this time of year,” said dad, the Nuggets assistant coach Friday from Los Angeles before flying to Denver for Saturday night’s Game 7. “I’m happy to see (Seth) in the playoffs again. I know he missed them.”

Seth Jones, traded to Florida after four playoff-less years in Chicago, led the Panthers in ice time (25:41 a game) in the opening series. He scored the winning goal in the pivotal Game 4. He’s become a 6-foot-4 anchor on the defense in the way the five-time All-Star was expected after the trade.

He fits right into a Panthers culture of players and professional dads, too. The fathers of Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart were NHL stars. Aleksander Barkov’s dad was a Russian and Finnish pro.

Popeye Jones had an 11-year NBA career. He grew up in Tennessee playing football, basketball and baseball, though, and was introduced to hockey while playing for the Dallas Mavericks through Dallas Star Mike Modano.

“I didn’t know what I was watching but I liked it,” he said.

While playing in Denver, his oldest son, Justin, was swept up in a city consumed by Colorado Avalanche’s championship hockey. Friends played hockey. He wanted to play, too. Dad took his sons to buy hockey equipment. Seth, then 5, got his first pair of skates and a helmet.

“That was an expensive trip to the store,” dad said.

The sons made hockey their sport to their father’s surprise. Seth never played organized basketball. Dad came home from road trips and saw the schedules posted on the refrigerator of practice and ice times.

The Avalanche and Nuggets shared a weight room and the 6-foot-8 Popeye asked Avalanche captain Joe Sakic how to help his sons improve in hockey.

“He looked me up and down and said, ‘They’re going to be big, better teach them how to skate,’ ” dad said. “I went home and told my sons and they took skating seriously then.”

The traveling life of a talented hockey family followed, complete with relationships all these years later. Popeye became friends with Andy Rielly when their sons played as 10-year-olds in an Edmonton tournament. Morgan Rielly is now a star Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman and will again play against Seth deep in their NHL careers.

Growing up around pro sports had its moments for Seth, too. When dad played for Washington from 2000-2003, he was two lockers from Michael Jordan. Seth was 9 or 10 and had a fundraiser for his hockey team. He asked dad to get autographed Air Jordans for it.

“I said, ‘If you want him to sign shoes, you go and ask him,’ ” Popeye said. “He went over and said, ‘Mr. Jordan, will you sign a pair of shoes for our hockey fundraiser?’ Michael grabbed a pen and signed them.”

There were larger lessons that impacted the son as he became a star athlete. He remembers his dad returning to play in Dallas in 2003-04 and seeing what only a 10-year-old on the inside could.

“I was able to go in those locker rooms and was old enough to understand how a professional athlete works every day,” he said. “I was able to see Dirk Nowitziki and Jason Kidd, some guys like that — really see them on a practice day, on a game day, the preparation, the thousand shots they took before a game started that no one saw.

“That’s when it really clicked about what goes into it. People just see us playing games. They don’t understand the practice days, the off days, what really happens. It was great to get an inside perspective.”

The Panthers were in the mix to draft Jones with their second pick in 2013. They instead chose Barkov. Jones went fourth to Nashville, and the Jones family added another pro sport to follow.

“First thing, when the schedules come, I look to see if we’re in the same city at some time,” dad said.

He stayed over in New York a few years ago to watch Seth and Caleb, who were Chicago teammates, play the Rangers in Madison Square Garden. Seth was in Miami when dad’s Nuggets won their 2023 championship against the Miami Heat.

Just this past week, dad watched Caleb play in Los Angeles as his Nuggets played the Clippers there. Now there’s just one hockey team left. Seth is back in the playoffs again.

“Those years in Chicago were tough for him,” dad said. “But the great thing is he kept working to try to improve, knowing things would get better. I’m impressed he kept his work ethic high. Now he’s in a great place for him.”

The Panthers start their series against the Maple Leafs at 8 p.m. Monday night on ESPN. The son will again anchor the defense. The dad will be watching after a Saturday Game 7 work night of his own.