TORONTO — “Make sure you have Wi-Fi on the plane, just in case.”
That was the advice Trayce Jackson-Davis got from his agent on Wednesday, just as the Golden State Warriors were preparing to fly to Phoenix the day before the NBA trade deadline.
The 25-year-old knew a potential deal was in the works and knew that the Raptors were one of the teams interested (the Chicago Bulls were also in the mix). He landed in Phoenix and went for dinner with his father before it was confirmed: he was going to be a Raptor.
He spent Thursday getting his life organized so he could move from San Francisco to Toronto in the space of 24 hours, but he seemed unfazed about arriving just in time for a blast of frigid air as the city deals with another cold spell that even locals aren’t all that pleased about.
“I’m from the Midwest, so I’m used to the cold,” he said Saturday after going through his first practice at the OVO Athletic Centre as the city was warming up from -21°C overnight lows. “Nothing new to me, so happy to be here.”
That’s the perfect answer. If he doesn’t mind watching curling on TV, he’ll be a fan favourite in weeks.
More importantly, the Raptors are hopeful the three-year veteran can provide some depth in the front court. The native of Indiana is joining the roster just as centre Jakob Poeltl is nearing a return from a nearly 26-game absence due to a recurring back problem, but he gives Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic some more athleticism at the centre spot, even if he is a little undersized at six-foot-10.
“Really good first impressions,” said Rajakovic. “You can see that he’s a very smart player. He’s picking up things very quickly. He’s also asking really good questions in the parts of practice today when we went [with] a little bit of live. He showed that he can be a really good lob threat for us. We’re not gonna take anything for granted, we’re not going to pass any judgment. We’re going to allow him to get incorporated into the team and to show us who he is and how best I can use him.”
His teammates didn’t hesitate to test what scouts refer to as his ‘sneaky athleticism.’ His most famous highlight was earned in March of 2024 when Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama overplayed him to the right and Jackson-Davis spun to his left (he’s a left-hander), took two strong dribbles and dunked on Wembanyama.
“It’s a good thing, it’s never going to die down,” said Jackson-Davis. “I hear about it like once every week, and so it is what it is. It was a great play. He’s a great player, but I made a great play, so…”
It came up before he even took the floor Saturday, with RJ Barrett telling him to look out for lobs, based on the logic that if someone can dunk on the seven-foot-four Spurs star, they should be getting passes above the rim.
“One of the first drills [today], we did a two-on-one [and] RJ threw me a lob. He told me that earlier in the day, he said, basically, ‘Anyone that dunks on Wemby, we’re throwing it up to him.’ And so, the first play he threw me a lob, he said, ‘I told you.’”
But the Raptors are optimistic they can use Jackson-Davis in a number of ways, given his experience playing for the Warriors in a system that emphasizes ball movement and playing through their centre at the point of attack.
He struggled to gain traction in the Warriors’ rotation recently as Al Horford returned from injury. At the trade deadline, Golden State acquired Kristaps Porzingis, making Jackson-Davis expendable. He doesn’t shoot from the perimeter but is a strong rebounder and shot blocker. He has averaged 15.7 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.9 blocks per 36 minutes for his career.
Jackson-Davis believes playing his first three-plus NBA seasons alongside the likes of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Chris Paul — the Warriors’ second-unit point guard during his rookie season — has contributed to his development and is something he can bring to the Raptors.
“I just feel like just learning from those guys — Steph Draymond, Chris Paul, my first year, Klay, being around guys that are going to be in the Hall of Fame, and Jimmy [Butler], those are all guys that I’ve just absorbed from like a sponge,” he said. “They’ve helped me with a lot of things and I’m [hoping] to apply what I’ve learned there to here. And obviously, they come from a lot of winning. And so if I have anything that I got to say, or anything that can help, obviously I’ll share my opinion, share my mind, and just help us get better.”
Jak is back?: Poeltl is hopeful that when he returns from his extended absence, he can stick around. He’s listed as questionable against the Pacers. His back issues crept up in training camp, and he’s had to learn how to heal, treat and manage them.
“We saw a lot of doctors about it. To be honest, I don’t want to get into too much details about it,” Poeltl said Saturday. “The point is I’m feeling better now. I did a couple different treatment options. So, yeah, I’m glad to be feeling better. [But] I’m learning as I’m going on with this whole process, through this stretch of however many weeks where I couldn’t play, and even before, when it was more manageable for me and like, now I’m in a different situation again.
“So, I’m gonna go into these games with confidence and hopeful that it’s gonna stay this way, and I’m just gonna play it by ear pretty much.”
Good to have options: With the return of Poeltl and the arrival of Jackson-Davis, the Raptors have a four-man rotation of bigs (when Collin Murray-Boyles and Sandro Mamukelashvili are included) for the first time this season. Rajakovic said Mamukelashvili is the most malleable because of his ability to space out to the three-point line.
The trick will be learning how to juggle minutes between Poeltl and Murray-Boyles, who has thrived as a starter with Poeltl being out. Playing them together could be a challenge since they each thrive as rollers and playing out of the dunker’s spot. But Murray-Boyles will get his minutes.
“I think that CMB is playing great. We’ve got to continue developing him,” Rajakovic said. “I think he’s really earned his minutes for the rookie and he’s doing really well, so we’re going to continue playing him, as well as Sandro. Now with Jak, as I said, Jak is going to be on limited restrictions from the start. So we’re gonna read our team, and the players and teams [are] gonna give us the answers for all of those.”
Canada has been very good to me: Jackson-Davis’s first time in Canada brought good vibes. He was a member of the American team that won gold at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship.
“That was my first time in Canada. We won gold,” Jackson-Davis said. “I’m pretty sure Coby White was on that team, Tyrese Maxey, Quinten Grimes, we had a few NBA guys. We won gold … It was a really fun time. We went to Niagara Falls. We watched the Warriors win the championship. … it was a lot of fun, a lot of good times.”
