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At 37 it begs the question: what is his motivation to travel across the other side of the world to play in the NBL with the defending champion Illawarra Hawks? For McGee, the answer is simple. “I was in the NBA for 16 years and I always had a hint of jealously towards the European players because they get to go to different countries and really explore,” said McGee, who has played alongside future Hall of Famers LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant throughout his stellar NBA career. “I never really had that opportunity, so when this opportunity came up to come to Australia ... I jumped straight on it.
“I’ll be bringing nothing but championship-winning calibre basketball with a little sprinkle of excitement and a lot of dunks and block shots for sure. “I mean, if you are a fan of me, you know what I do, so just bringing what I do to an organisation that is already a championship organisation.”
Keith Smith: Mavs will carry a dead money cap hit of $1,002,360 for Olivier-Maxence Prosper for each of the next three seasons (through the 2027-28 season). Dallas was already carrying a $2,208,856 dead money cap hit for JaVale McGee for the same years. That's a total of $3,211,216 each year for the next three years.
Australian forward Jonah Bolden has agreed to a one-year deal with the Illawarra Hawks, sources told ESPN. Out of Sydney, Bolden was among the most credentialed local players left on the market, and joins a Hawks team loading up for an NBL championship defence. The signing of Bolden will come just days after the Hawks inked 16-year NBA veteran JaVale McGee to a one-year deal, giving head coach Justin Tatum an imposing and experienced frontcourt.
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JaVale McGee headed to Australia
Olgun Uluc: JaVale McGee has agreed to a one-year deal with the Illawarra Hawks, sources told ESPN. The 7-foot centre joins the defending NBL champions following a 16-year NBA career.
Former NBA big man JaVale McGee is now suiting up for the Vaqueros de Bayamón in Puerto Rico’s top professional league, the Baloncesto Superior Nacional. Following his stint with the Sacramento Kings in the 2023-24 campaign, the 16-year NBA veteran made the leap abroad, signing his first international deal.
On Friday, three-time NBA champion JaVale McGee got into an altercation with Jonathan Rodríguez, a guard-forward for the Capitanes de Arecibo. The incident began when the two locked up and wrestled for position beneath the basket late in the second quarter. Despite giving up five inches in height to the 7-foot McGee, Rodríguez stood his ground and didn’t back down. After a tense exchange, the former LA Lakers center grabbed Rodríguez by the neck and shoved him. Officials and teammates from both squads quickly stepped in to break up the confrontation before it escalated further. Both McGee and Rodríguez were ejected from the game as a result of the altercation.
Rudy Gobert. When it was pretty obvious that he wanted to spend his whole career in Utah, but when it was pretty obvious that might not be the way that thing was going that last year, Dallas was at the top of his kind of silent list of preferred destinations. And there was a time where Mark Cuban and Nico Harrison were both very interested in that idea.” The Mavericks knocked the Jazz out of the playoffs that year. Jason Kidd was not so excited about the idea of having Rudy Gobert. They couldn’t have outbid the Timberwolves anyway, but then the Mavericks came around on this: ‘Yeah, we’ll get half the production on 20% of the salary.’ And they gave JaVale McGee 20% of the salary.
Three-time NBA champion JaVale McGee signed with Puerto Rican team Vaqueros de Bayamon for the 2025 season.
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Danilo Gallinari: From Denver to Bayamón… It’s been a few years, but we’re ready to shine together again 🙌 Welcome back, @JaValeMcGee ! 📹 by @VaquerosBSN #VaquerosBSN
Brendan Haywood: "The gun situation with Javaris and Gil was the dumbest thing of all time. Two guys let their pride and ego get in the way. First and foremost, it wasn’t even about either one of their money. I think it was JaVale McGee who might have owed Earl Boykins money. Long story short, jokes started getting made like, 'You can’t owe this guy money,' and Javaris was like, 'Yeah, you can’t owe that guy money,' and Gil started talking about how Javaris owes money. Next thing you know, it snowballs out of hand. Javaris is like, 'I’ll shoot you in your knee,' and Gil’s like, 'Oh, you want to talk about guns? I got all the guns.' It escalated from nothing. Then Gil puts a gold Desert Eagle in Javaris’s locker as a joke, and Javaris says, 'I don’t need your gun; I got my own.' It turned into something stupid over a card game."
Pacers keeping an eye on JaVale McGee
The Trade Deadline: "I'm hearing [the Pacers] are looking at JaVale McGee." -- Kevin O'Conno
Green still views himself as a natural power forward. The glory days of this Warriors run planted him next to durable centers like Andrew Bogut, Zaza Pachulia and JaVale McGee for the majority of his minutes. “I’m really good next to a center,” Green said. “I’m decent at center, but I think I’m really good next to a center.”
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