Despite his freakish physical gifts, JaVale McGee is known more for providing unintentional comedy to NBA fans than for anything of significance he’s done on the basketball court.
McGee, 28, is now looking to salvage both his career and reputation in Golden State.
ICYMI: Wrote on JaVale McGee trying to revive his career with the Warriors https://t.co/KcuAWMnDyU
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 13, 2016
The big fella has the backing of his new Warriors teammates and coaching staff, and says people on the outside have no idea what kind of person he really is.
Per the Mercury News:
At the age of 28, he’s clawing for a 15th roster spot, trying to resuscitate his career. How did it get to this point? […] “You know,” Steve Kerr shook his head. “That’s a good question.”
“It’s definitely the injury,” McGee said (of a stress fracture in his tibia that led to surgery in 2014). “Because I haven’t done anything else in this league to not be on a team. I haven’t had any drug cases, I haven’t had any DUIs. I’m not a bad guy. You can’t go to one person in the league and they’ll say ‘JaVale is a bad guy, a bad influence.’ You know what I’m saying? I don’t go out. I don’t drink. It has to be the injury. That’s the only logical thing.”
Shaqtin’ a Fool became popular. McGee was its unwilling star. It morphed into a label he couldn’t shake. Strangers chided him about it in public. McGee privately seethed, most upset, he said, that it was on the league’s network. […] “Fans think it’s real, like that’s real life and they think I’m a dumb person,” McGee said. “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.”
