From a pure physical standpoint, center JaVale McGee should be more valued as a player than he is. His basketball IQ has ultimately done him in, though, and landed him on enough blooper reels to last an entire career.
McGee has become a staple of the "Shaqtin' a Fool" segments during NBA on TNT broadcasts, even taking home Most Valuable Player honors on two occasions from The Big Aristotle himself.
It's a distinction he'd prefer not to have, though, and one he thinks can do irreversible harm to ones career when they're on the show enough times like he is.
"Fans think it's real, like that's real life and they think I'm a dumb person," McGee told the Mercury News' Anthony Slater. "It’s just really disappointing that grown men, 50, 40 year olds are having America’s funniest home videos of a player. And then making it a hashtag and really just trying to ruin someone’s career over basketball mistakes."
McGee is currently competing for one of the final roster spots on the Golden State Warriors, showing some definite upside in limited minutes during the preseason, where he's averaged 3.7 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in just 10.2 minutes.
Veteran Andre Iguodala is rooting for McGee - who he previously teamed with on the Denver Nuggets - to leave a positive impression and perhaps even make the cut, knowing how great an asset he can be.
"I’ve talked to some different people, GMs, front office people,” Iguodala said. "It’s funny, he’s so much better than a lot of these guys that got paid this past year. Like so much better. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to display that."
McGee averaged 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds over 34 games for the Dallas Mavericks in 2015-16, missing a good chunk of games at the start of the season due to a stress fracture in his left tibia.
