When JaVale McGee originally signed with the Warriors last summer, some prognosticators thought it was Bob Myers grasping for any type of answer at the center position.
Little did many know at the time, McGee would end up playing a major role in the Warriors’ first playoff victory Sunday against the Portland Trail Blazers. The soaring 7-footer stuffed the stat sheet in 10 minutes of play, scoring 6 points, grabbing 5 boards and blocking 2 shots. This hustle play below helped pick up the intensity of the game in the third quarter.
JaVale McGee is playing out of his mind #Warriors pic.twitter.com/ttogTGxoRV
— KNBR (@KNBR) April 16, 2017
How did we end up here? How did McGee go from almost having to play overseas to one of the best big men off the bench in the NBA? The Undefeated’s Marc Spears joined Larry Krueger and Kevin Frandsen Monday to explain why.
“I think when there’s a guy that maturity if often questioned — and in Washington it was just a group of silliness,” Spears said. “Gilbert Arenas, the gun incident there, some of the guys they had on the team, (Javaris) Crittenton who is in jail. I mean, it was just a lot of immaturity there. A lot of young guys. And to me, like McGee is one of those guys I thought you were going to get your best basketball with him with veterans. He can’t do well with a young group of guys. He needs some veteran guys to bring him along, give him confidence, give him some easy Alley-oops, know how to use him right.
“To me, this is the first place that I think he’s been where even when he does something silly, or whatever, it’s not that big a deal. It’s just, okay, let’s move on. When he took the ball out the wrong way, stuff like that. Shaq and stuff. I think it made him feel good when he had a problem with Shaq and his teammates back him up. They showed love for him. Is he kind of odd? Is he kind of different? Yeah, he’s kind of different. But he’s part of their family. They understand his importance. They’ve embraced his eccentric side.”
The Warriors are paying McGee $1.4 million, but he only counts $980,431 against the salary cap on his veteran’s minimum deal. The 29-year-old’s contract will expire in July and the Warriors likely won’t have any additional funds to allocate his way. When that time comes, McGee will have to weigh whether finances or thriving on the basketball court matter more to him.
“This is one of those marriages where I think it’s better for McGee and his career to figure out how to stay with the Warriors and make it work for the Warriors,” Spears said. “I can’t say if he goes somewhere else it’s going to be the same kind of good union.
“It’s certainly going to be tempting for him. It’s going to be tempting for (Andre) Iguodala. I can’t see Steph or KD going anywhere, they’ll get taken care of. But when you’re at their stage of their careers, but you’re sitting there like, ‘Man, so-and-so wants to give me $10 (million) or $8 million.’ It’s going to be hard. There might be a team out there that’s going to offer them some money.”
Spears went on to tell a story of how James Posey cashed in on a deal after winning a title with the Boston Celtics, but then never really turned into a better player when he arrived in New Orleans. McGee will have a similar decision to make come July.
Other free agents in July include Iguodala, Durant, Curry, Shaun Livingston, Zaza Pachulia, James Michael McAdoo, Ian Clark, Matt Barnes and David West.