Dallas Basketball

Mavs Preseason Profile: JaVale McGee Brings 'Championship Experience' to Dallas

JaVale McGee might not play a ton of minutes for the Dallas Mavericks, but he's a much-needed upgrade to the team's big-man depth.

Dalton Trigg

ClutchPoints
In this story:

When it comes to free agency, the Dallas Mavericks are usually never considered big winners, to put it nicely.

That might still be harsh, but it's simply the truth of the matter. The Mavs, for the most part, are typically fine when it comes to trades, but for whatever reasons, they just can't hit home runs in free agency. ... But that doesn't mean they can't hit singles and doubles on occasion, though.

That's the category JaVale McGee likely falls into, given that he's considered a good pickup for Dallas, but not necessarily a game-changer. The Mavs signed the 34-year-old right out of the free agency gates to a three-year, $17 million contract.

McGee is a much more experienced and accomplished player now than he was during his first stint with the Mavs during the 2015-16 season. He's won three championships since then – two with Steph Curry's Golden State Warriors and one with LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers. Now, he will try to do the same with Luka Doncic.

Although the Mavs had already traded for Christian Wood before free agency begin, they still felt that McGee's addition was needed to address their lack of depth at the center position – which was exposed by the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

2021-22 Season Review

McGee had a productive season for the top-seeded Phoenix Suns last year, as he averaged 9.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in 15.8 minutes per game. He shot 62.9 percent from the field in 74 regular-season games.

In 17 starts for the Suns last season when DeAndre Ayton was out, McGee averaged 10.9 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. The Suns went 12-5 with McGee starting and posted an offensive rating of 118 and a defensive rating of 104.

In the postseason, McGee's overall production went down, but he raised his efficiency by shooting 70 percent from the field. Although there were many instances where he was played off the floor in the playoffs – as many traditional NBA centers are, including Mavs' starting center from last season, Dwight Powell – he still had some good moments that Mavs fans can be optimistic about heading into this season.

2022-23 Season Preview

Heading into the new season, our expectations for McGee are for him to put up the same kind of production he did for Phoenix last season. Given his athleticism and skill in the pick-and-roll game, McGee should be a seamless fit next to Doncic.

Whether he'll be able to stay on the floor with Dallas in the postseason or not is something we'll have to wait to see, but at the very least, McGee will still be an upgrade from what the Mavs got from their starting center throughout the entire playoffs last season.

As for the Mavs' expectations for McGee, owner Mark Cuban kept it short and sweet in a recent interview with DallasBasketball.com:

“(Expectations are for him) to be a defensive and rebounding presence. To give our guys the value of his playoff and championship experience.”

You can follow Dalton Trigg on Twitter at @dalton_trigg

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Mavericks? Click Here.

Follow DallasBasketball.com on Twitter.

Follow DallasBasketball.com on Facebook.

Check out our latest Mavs Step Back episode:

Published
Dalton Trigg
DALTON TRIGG

Dalton Trigg is the Editor-In-Chief for Dallas Basketball, as well as the Executive Editor overseeing Inside The Rockets, Inside The Spurs, All Knicks, and The Magic Insider. He is the founder and host for the Mavs Step Back Podcast, which is a proud part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Trigg graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi’s College of Business and Economic Development with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship in 2016. After spending a few years with multiple Dallas Mavericks-related blogs, including SB Nation’s Mavs Moneyball, Trigg joined DallasBasketball.com as a staff writer in 2018 and never looked back. At the start of 2022, he was promoted to the EIC title he holds now. Through the years, Trigg has conducted a handful of high-profile one-on-one interviews to add to his resume — in both writing and podcasting. Some of his biggest interviews have been with Mavs owner Mark Cuban, Mavs GM Nico Harrison, now-retired legend Dirk Nowitzki and many other current/former players and team staffers. Many of those interviews and other articles by Trigg have been aggregated by other well-known sports media websites, such as Yahoo Sports, CBS Sports, Bleacher Report and others. You can find Trigg on all major social media channels, but his most prevalent platform is on Twitter. Whether it’s posting links to his DBcom work, live-tweeting Mavs games or merely giving his opinions on things going on with Dallas and the rest of the NBA, the daily content never stops rolling. For any inquiries, please email Dalton@MavsStepBack.com.

Home/News