NBA veteran center JaVale McGee has plenty to be proud of. He has won three world championships — two with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors, and one with LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. He is also, by all accounts, a good and fun man to be around.
Last season, he joined the Dallas Mavericks, and he was likely hoping he would add a fourth championship ring to his jewelry collection, especially after they traded for Kyrie Irving at midseason. But it didn’t work out, and the Mavs failed to even qualify for the play-in tournament.
They waived him late this past summer, and the Sacramento Kings, a young and emerging power, swooped him up. Dallas head coach Jason Kidd was asked why things didn’t work out with McGee, and here was his response:
"S---. A lot of things didn't work out. It's just change. It's a part of the business. Things just happen. We wish him the best of luck with the Kings."
Over the years, McGee has been known as a shot-blocking big man who is also a solid rebounder and a lob threat near the rim, both in transition and in halfcourt sets. He currently has career averages of 7.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 16.5 minutes a game.
He does have asthma, which has limited how long he can stay on the court. But he has been a solid rotational big man for a number of teams ever since he entered the NBA in 2008 as the No. 18 pick in that year’s draft.
Last season, the big weakness for the Mavs was their defense. They ranked 25th in defensive rating, which led to them allowing 114.1 points per game, and obviously, McGee wasn’t able to help out that much in that department.
This season, they aren’t much better, but they did put up a nice defensive effort on Wednesday in a win over the Lakers by holding them to just 101 points and completely shutting down superstar big man Anthony Davis.
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