Getty Jayce Johnson (in blue), playing for the Warriors' Summer League team in Las Vegas.
If there is one thing we can say for sure about 7-foot center and NBA prospect Jayce Johnson, it’s that he can grab rebounds. He averaged 12.1 per game last season for the Warriors’ team in Santa Cruz, making him the G League leader in that category.
Johnson played three Summer League games for the Dubs, and averaged 4.7 points and 6.0 rebounds in 14.3 minutes. That caught enough attention within the organization to cause the team to ink him to an Exhibit 10 contract this week, which means he will get a training camp chance to find his place in the NBA.
The Golden State Warriors are signing the NBA G League’s top rebounder Jayce Johnson on a training camp Exhibit 10 deal, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The 7-foot center averaged nearly 6 PPG and 7 RPG in July Summer League, and will compete for a two-way slot in camp.
Johnson is 25 and went undrafted out of Marquette, after transferring from Utah for his senior season, in 2021. He played overseas, signing with CSU Sibiu in Romania, where he averaged 8.8 points and 8.8 rebounds in 23 games, according to Eurobasket.com.
Johnson does not do much else besides rebound, it seems. In an age in which 7-footers are still expected to shoot, Johnson is old-school: In college, he averaged 5.7 points in four seasons, made just 49.0% of his free throws, and did not attempt a 3-pointer in 118 games.
Warriors Have 2 Open Roster Spots
Still, the Warriors stand less than two months until training camp starts, with some roster space to be filled. There are 13 players signed to contracts, leaving two open spots. Golden State is likely to carry 14 players into the season.
The Warriors also have two open two-way spots, and Johnson could be a candidate for one of those positions. Two-way players are primarily G League players and are limited to 50 days with the NBA club, but can often work their way onto the big roster.
The Warriors are also decidedly thin up front. Kevon Looney probably is the starting center as things stand, and his only backup is second-round pick Trayce Jackson-Davis, who averaged 16.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in two games for Golden State this summer.
Jackson-Davis was taken with the 57th pick, and is a 23-year-old center who set Hoosiers school records for career rebounds (1,143) and blocked shots (270). He averaged 20.9 points and 10.8 rebounds, with 4.0 assists, as a senior. He’s the son of NBA veteran Dale Davis, who spent half-a-season in Golden State in 2004-05 before he was traded to New Orleans as part of the Baron Davis deal.
Not Enough Size for the Warriors?
In a Western Conference that was dominated in the postseason by the Nuggets and star center Nikola Jokic, the Warriors are badly in need of size. Even Looney, the team’s primary big guy, is 6-foot-9. So is Jackson-Davis. The biggest player is Dario Saric, who primarily is a forward, at 6-foot-10.
Maybe Johnson, by virtue of being a 7-footer who can go and foul Jokic six times if needed, has a shot, then.
But, speaking on the Dubs Talk podcast this week, Dunleavy said that skill trumps size in today’s NBA.
Tune in tonight to NBC Sports Bay Area after Giants Postgame Live to watch Mike Dunleavy Jr. join @MontePooleNBCS and I on our Dubs Talk offseason review show
“I think size still matters,” Dunleavy said. “It always has and always will. The caveat to that is nowadays, you just have to be skilled. If you’re not skilled, and you’re just big, it’s going to be hard. Back 15 or 20, 30 years ago, it didn’t matter as much. The bigger guys always thrived because they were closer to the basket, and the game was different and all that. Nowadays, if you’re big and you’re skilled, yeah, you’re gonna see MVPs — Giannis (Antetokounmpo) and (Joel) Embiid and Jokic, that will never change. It’s just the amount of guys that are big and skilled has (grown). The smaller, shorter guys that are skilled are sort of taking the game over and there’ll be a shift at some point again.
“We’ll see what it is, but in the meantime, to me skill always wins out.”