Report: JaVale McGee won't be fully cleared for start of camp

JaVale McGee is taking a little longer than anticipated in "getting back to that elite level."

With training camp less than a week away, McGee is not expected to be a full participant when the proceedings get underway, according to Eddie Sefko of The Dallas Morning News.

The Dallas Mavericks signed McGee to a reported two-year, veteran-minimum deal this offseason, guaranteeing him $500,000. That downside would suggest McGee has a strong inside track on the team's 15th roster spot, but the Mavericks have since added a 15th guaranteed contract to their books, and have four more players on non-guaranteed deals.

In other words, if McGee can't prove himself healthy, he'll be at some theoretical risk of not making the team, strange though that may sound.

McGee is still being slowed by a left leg injury that has cost him the better part of the last two seasons. He's hit the sidelines several times as a result of a left tibial stress fracture and didn't play down the stretch last season after being waived by the Philadelphia 76ers, who were paid in picks by the Denver Nuggets to take on his salary.

The 7-footer indicated that the Mavericks' training staff was a major deciding factor in where he signed this offseason. Still just 27, a healthy McGee playing at his former level could be a valuable depth piece for a Dallas team that may need help at the pivot. It just might take some patience to get him back to that point.

In 382 career games over seven seasons with three teams, McGee has averaged 8.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in 19.9 minutes while shooting 54 percent from the floor. In 28 games over the past two seasons, he's managed just 12 minutes per game, averaging five points, 2.8 rebounds, and one block.