GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 17, 2024

Trayce Jackson-Davis

Media Conference

Q. Trayce, how can you reflect on your rookie season and how did it live up to your expectations?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I thought overall I had a pretty solid rookie season. Obviously there's always room for growth. But just kind of just going through the ups and downs and embracing the struggle, embracing the success not getting too high or too low, but just trying to stay even.

Q. What surprised you about the NBA or I guess your play wasn't it and what did, what do you think you kind of need to get better at?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Can you repeat it?

Q. Let's start with what surprised you.

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Okay. So, I mean, obviously the NBA is the best players in the world and they're really, really good, but I think what surprised me the most is just the smallest margin of what a player, a superstar is to another player. It's like, it's just, the margin for everyone in that league is so small, like obviously you have the top 20 players, but then after that the margin is just relatively even and it's basically who plays harder.

Q. Where do you think you need to -- like, you're heading toward the offseason, where are you, like, I need to get better at that?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I just think that obviously my body. Coming in last year I got hurt, I didn't really get a full summer, so I'm really honing in on this summer on working on my body, working on getting stronger upper body, lower body. Then just doing whatever the coaches need me to do. We just had a discussion up there, so just honing in on some of the parts of my game, being more offensive minded, defensively still bringing pressure, being able to switch, guard guards and stuff of that nature. I think that all just comes with reps.

Q. What does the off-season going to look like for you as far as where you're going, working out, et cetera?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I'll be here for most of the off-season. I'll be here and they have a great plan for me and probably going to start up here in about two or three weeks.

Q. Do you expect to be in summer league?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, definitely going to play in summer league. The stuff that I work on in the off-season, translate it to there.

Q. What did Klay Thompson mean to you this season?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Klay was great. He gave me my first nickname on the team, Baby T. Graduated to Trayce Junior. He was a great teammate. I feel like me and him had a really good chemistry going through out the year. I love being his teammate. I love being able to play with him.

Q. You mentioned switching on the guards. How vital do you view that for kind of your future defensive versatility?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I think it's huge for me. Obviously being able to play small ball 5, but being able to switch onto guards, especially in late shot clock situations, using my length, altering shots, all of that stuff.

Q. How close do you think you are to feeling confident in those type of settings?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I feel like even from the beginning of the year to now I've definitely grown in confidence, so I'm just being put in position. Coach trusting me to guard some of these guards and not always relying on playing roamer a little bit more than guarding just the big. I just feel like it's going to continue to grow with repetition, but obviously I think I'm starting to get more confident.

Q. Being more offensively minded that you mentioned, how much of that, if any of it, involves extending out with the jumper maybe first to the mid-range then maybe out to the corners?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: Yeah, when we actually talked coach mentioned Sabonis's name and I think just the force that he plays with. He feels like with the dribble handoffs, stuff of that nature, he might attempt one three a game, but that's not necessarily who he is as a player. But it's definitely something that I want to expand on. The free throws, going in practice and knock 'em down, so I have to translate that over as well. I think the free throws and then being able to catch and shoot three, I think that's something that I also need to expand on.

Q. What about the matchup last night with Sabonis was difficult?

TRAYCE JACKSON-DAVIS: I think that just obviously their game plan. They played really physical. Really, really physical. They grabbed, they held. Coach said that was just, that's what playoff basketball is, so just being able to get a taste of that, obviously we didn't want that outcome to come last night, but they played really well and hat's off to them. Yeah, just being able to get some of that experience.