Warriors trade Patrick Baldwin Jr. to Wizards for Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis

After drafting Brandin Podziemski in the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft, the Golden State Warriors traded back into the draft at the end of the second round. They traded 2022 first-round pick Patrick Baldwin Jr. to the Washington Wizards for the draft rights to big man Trayce Jackson-Davis, who was selected out of Indiana with the 57th overall pick. The deal will work into the Chris Paul blockbuster the teams agreed to earlier in the day.

Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis was considered by many public-facing analysts to be a late-first/early second-round prospect. A four-year starter at Indiana, Jackson-Davis is a long, athletic big man who has the tools to be a versatile bench option in the NBA. This past season, Jackson-Davis was a consensus All-American and averaged 20.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.9 blocks per game. While he has the length and athleticism to guard multiple positions, he is not an outside shooting threat, having never made a three during his college career and making just 69.5% of his free throws.

Jackson-Davis is the son of former 16-year NBA veteran center Dale Davis, who played 36 games with the Warriors in the 2005-06 season before he was traded to the New Orleans Hornets with Speedy Claxton for point guard Baron Davis. That trade worked out pretty well for Golden State.

Jackson-Davis gives the Warriors some much-needed size and physicality at the end of the bench, and will cost significantly less than Baldwin. While a comparable size to Jackson-Davis, Baldwin’s potential contributions are almost entirely reliant on his outside shot, which has been inconsistent during his college and lone professional seasons.