After nine-straight games in the Golden State Warriors rotation, including at least 12 minutes in seven of the past eight, Trayce Jackson-Davis was left out against the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday afternoon.
While it made some sense given the Raptors were without starting center Jakob Poeltl, and subsequently started small with Scottie Barnes at center, it was still a brutal call on Jackson-Davis who had re-emerged as an impactful piece off the bench in recent times.
Trayce Jackson-Davis' latest benching was completely undeserved
The Warriors had been a +32 in Jackson-Davis' minutes over the past eight games, including being a +8 in the 126-116 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Christmas Day where the third-year center had 10 points, five rebounds and a block in less than 13 minutes.
Kerr was incredibly complimentary of Jackson-Davis and the center rotation in general after that win over the Mavericks, only to return to heavy small-ball minutes with Draymond Green at the five in Toronto.
Starting big man Quinten Post played only 18 minutes despite scoring eight points in the first-quarter, while Al Horford was impactful in his second game back with seven points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 17 minutes off the bench.
Given the Raptors were playing without a legitimate center all night, Kerr could justify his decision to leave Jackson-Davis out of the rotation. Even if the axing was underserved, the Warriors looked on track to win a fourth-straight game when they led by seven with under two minutes remaining.
Instead, Toronto forced overtime where Golden State were killed by Barnes on the glass, in large part because Kerr didn't have a center on the floor. The Raptors star had an extraordinary nine offensive rebounds and 25 boards for the game, with the hosts finishing with 18 offensive boards as a team.
Someone wanna tell Steve that even though the other team isn't playing a center, that doesn't automatically mean you have to do the same...🤦♂️
— Peter O’Keefe (@POK252) December 28, 2025
Toronto also outscored the visitors by 30 in points in the paint. Could Jackson-Davis have helped in reversing this and the rebounding numbers while helping to deliverer the Warriors victory? The answer is probably, even if it's now easy to say in hindsight.
Jackson-Davis had popped up on the injury report with illness prior to the game, but he was available and Kerr confirmed in his press conference that the decision to not play the 25-year-old was based on the flow of the game and the Raptors going small.
It was certainly a controversial decision, but the good news for Jackson-Davis is that he should see minutes again on Monday's second night of a back-to-back with Horford set to rest in Brooklyn.