The Los Angeles Lakers have a long legacy of big men suiting up in the middle of the lineup on winning teams. While not a Hall of Famer, JaVale McGee was a beloved member of a championship team -- and now he's suiting up for a new squad to pursue his next title.
Looking back on the 2019-20 season, things came together for the Los Angeles Lakers in LeBron James' second season in Hollywood. Anthony Davis was the perfect co-star for James and the Lakers put the right mix of veterans around the two to propel them to a championship in the NBA Bubble at Disney World during the COVID restart.
For those looking for a trivia question to impress fellow Lakers fans, look no further than this: which player started the most games for that 2019-20 Lakers title team? It was not LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma or Dwight Howard. It was big, long, joyful JaVale McGee who started 68 games for the Lakers that season.
McGee came to the Lakers in 2018 having won a pair of championships with the Golden State Warriors, breathing life back into a wayward career. McGee's size and athleticism likely kept him in the league despite his immaturity and off-court antics. When the Warriors plugged him in as a 10-minute energy big he flourished into exactly what they needed - and in the process McGee grew up and found his place in the NBA.
The Lakers signed McGee in 2018 and he expanded his role. He more than doubled his minutes to 22.3 per game, entering the starting lineup and averaging a career-best 12 points per game to go along with 7.5 rebounds and 62.4 percent shooting from the field. That translates to per-36 minute numbers of 19 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. He had foudn his place.
Adding Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard the following season meant less was asked of McGee, and his minutes ticked down to 16.6 per game, but he remained the starting center all season long and for much of their postseason run until head coach Frank Vogel started playing Davis at center more often and Howard stepped into a larger role.
JaVale McGee is bouncing around the world
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The following offseason after earning a championship ring with the Lakers, Los Angeles dropped off his salary on the Cleveland Cavaliers for a couple of bit players. From there, McGee started to collect new teams like he was playing NBA bingo. He played for Cleveland, Denver, Phoenix, Dallas and Sacramento over the next four seasons.
Two weeks after turning 37 years old, McGee signed with Vaqueros de Bayamón of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional, the top basketball league in Puerto Rico. He joined former NBA veterans Danilo Gallinari, Chris Duarte and Renaldo Balkman and led the Vaqueros to the championship. Add another ring for JaVale McGee.
McGee was not just a veteran bit player, either. While playing for the Vaqueros he averaged 17.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game; he is still tapped into his size and has enough athleticism to be an impact player. It may be against lesser competition, but he can still make a difference.
This summer, McGee took another step on his basketball journey. The Illawarra Hawks of the Australian National Basketball League (NBL) are the defending champions in one of the better worldwide leagues, and now they have [signed the former Lakers center](https://www.espn.com/nbl/story/_/id/45876400/illawarra-hawks-sign-three-nba-champion-javale-mcgee) to beef up their lineup. McGee will look to win another title while helping the Hawks defend theirs.
Lakers fans largely loved JaVale McGee while he was on the team, and it's hard not to think of him with fondness. His is a great success story, from someone not ready to adult to starting for championship teams. He is now the veteran mentor teams want around. It worked for the Lakers, it worked for the Vaqueros, and now McGee will try to bring his magic to the Illawarra Hawks.