Thanks to the unprecedented success of rookie Jordan Bell and David West’s resurgence with the second unit, JaVale McGee has been pushed to the backseat of the Golden State Warriors’ bench. Now that McGee’s nine-year quest for an NBA Finals title came to an end last summer, Marcus Thompson told Gary & Larry on Thursday afternoon that the veteran center’s priorities may have shifted away from winning a championship to how often he can get on the court.
“Yeah, he wants to play,” Thompson said when asked if he believes McGee wants to be on a team that can give him more playing time, regardless of contention. “He wants to get minutes, especially after he tasted it already. He was beloved, catching dunks. His career resurrected and the whole nation was hating Shaq for hating on him. He felt it and now it’s gone because people are already like, ‘Jordan Bell is the next Draymond Green.’ And [McGee] is at the end of the bench.”
Although his minutes per game have stayed relatively the same as they were at this point last year, which was his first with the Warriors, McGee finished last season averaging nearly 10 minutes per game whereas this season he’s right at 8.1. He also made 34 appearances in the first 38 games of last season, but this year he’s made only 30 in the same amount of time.
McGee will be a free agent after this year and although what’s left of his contract doesn’t weigh down the Warriors’ payroll, freeing up his salary by trading him to a team like the Milwaukee Bucks could be advantageous for Golden State.
“There’s no room for JaVale,” Thompson said. “His minutes are down with Jordan Bell’s rise. The question is, what are you going to get for him? The best case scenario for the Warriors is to find somebody who will take his salary. Free up the space, save Joe Lacob a little change and probably if you need to, you grab an extra point guard and sign Quinn Cook for the whole season. They’re probably looking to get a second round pick or something out of it, but I don’t know if it’ll happen.”
To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 11:40 for Thompson on McGee.