Trayce Jackson-Davis actually took — and hit — some 3s at NBA Draft Combine
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Trayce Jackson-Davis shoots at the NBA Draft Combine
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CHICAGO — It turns out Trayce Jackson-Davis can, in fact, make 3-point shots.
Prior to each of the former Center Grove High School star and 2019 Mr. Basketball’s four seasons at Indiana, the prospect of him expanding his game and his shooting beyond the 3-point line was discussed, but he never did make a commitment to take any shots there in games. In four seasons with the Hoosiers he scored 2,258 points and attempted 1,504 field goals, but just three of those came beyond the 3-point arc. All three came in his junior year and he didn’t make a single one of them.
So now that the All-American and four-time All-Big Ten pick has declared for the NBA draft, much of the focus has been on whether Jackson-Davis can prove to teams that he can make the occasional outside shot, especially because he projects as a power forward rather than a center in the NBA at 6-9, 245 pounds, and the league is increasingly asking their big men to be able to make outside shots.
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On Monday at the NBA Draft Combine in Wintrust Arena, Jackson-Davis showed that he does, in fact have some shooting range. Drills at the combine are closer to practice settings than game-like scenarios, and Jackson-Davis certainly wasn’t the best shooter at the combine, but he did provide more evidence than he ever showed in college that he can put the ball in the basket from long range.
In a 3-point shooting drill similar to the All-Star 3-point contest (5 shots each from beyond the arc at each corner, each elbow and the top of the key) Jackson-Davis hit 10 of 25 uncontested attempts, finishing strong after hitting just one of his first nine attempts. Then, in a “star” 3-point shooting drill in which he crossed the court from spot-to-spot to make a star-like pattern, he hit nine of 12 3-pointers at one point and finished 12 of 25.
Jackson-Davis also tested well in other facets of the combine Monday. He finished a three-quarter court sprint in 3.2 seconds and posted a 33 inch standing vertical leap, which put him in the top 10 of all participants in testing.
Jackson-Davis is considered likely to be a late-first- or early-second-round pick. The Draft Lottery is Tuesday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN and the combine continues Wednesday and Thursday with 5-on-5 scrimmages, but Jackson-Davis is currently not expected to participate in those.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Trayce Jackson-Davis actually took — and hit — some 3s at NBA Draft Combine