ESPN Analyst Clowns Mavs' JaVale McGee in Lakers' Anthony Davis Comparison

Dallas Mavericks center JaVale McGee caught a stray insult from ESPN's Jay Williams speaking on Anthony Davis' underwhelming performance on Thursday night.

Michael Mulford | May 5, 2023

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When you find yourself in the same sentence as Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis, it should typically mean good things. But for one Dallas Mavericks' big man, he found himself getting dissed on ESPN on Friday morning out of nowhere.

On Friday's airing of "Get Up," ESPN analyst Jay Williams spoke on the inconsistency of Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis, who scored just 11 points in Thursday's Game 2 loss to Golden State.

"It's hard for me to recall a superstar in this game that has such extremes," Williams said. "There are times when I watch AD, I'm like, your ceiling is on the level of Jokic or Embiid, maybe better. But your floor is JaVale McGee."

"It's hard for me to recall a superstar in this game that has such extremes. There are times when I watch AD, I'm like, your ceiling is on the level of Jokić or Embiid, maybe better. But your floor is JaVale McGee."

—@RealJayWilliams on Anthony Davis pic.twitter.com/yyLhUxrcIC
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) May 5, 2023

Well, that's not very nice to McGee, who has won two championships with the Golden State Warriors and one with the Lakers. But hey, Williams isn't wrong when it comes to questioning the dud performances we've seen from Davis through these playoffs. One night, Davis will be the best player on the floor but in the following game, he'll look to be disinterested and unaggressive, speaking to the floor comparison of a typical McGee box score.

After initially being the Mavs starter at the beginning of this season, McGee was quickly put on the bench after the first few weeks. He ended up playing in 42 games and averaged 4.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 64 percent from the field when he did see the floor.

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Published May 5, 2023

MICHAEL MULFORD

Michael Mulford is a writer/editor for Dallas Basketball, where he extensively covers the Dallas Mavericks. He also covers the Chicago Bulls as the Managing Editor for Bulls Wire of USA Today Sports Media Group. Mulford grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and graduated from the University of North Texas in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in Recreation, Event, and Sports Management. He began his pursuit of sports writing in 2017 with Dallas Sports Fanatic, where he covered the Mavericks’ G League affiliate, Texas Legends. He then became the Managing Editor of Dallas Sports Fanatic just one year later and has covered the Mavericks as a credentialed media member since 2018, including covering numerous playoff games between 2021-22 and covering the team at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in 2019. In his time covering the Mavericks, Mulford has conducted numerous interviews for exclusive stories including with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki, former Maverick and current VP of Basketball Ops Michael Finley, former Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson, and more. You can follow and interact with Mulford on Twitter at @TheMulf.