Forgotten controversial Mavericks center signs with new team to revive career

Former Dallas Mavericks center JaVale McGee has signed a one-year deal with the Illawarra Hawks of the NBL, according to a recent report by ESPN. McGee most recently played for the Sacramento Kings during the 2023-24 season, and he now heads to Australia to try to revive his career and return to being the high-level shot blocker that devoted NBA fans know him to be.

McGee is already 37 years old, and this truly could be his final stop as his basketball career comes to an end. He had some great years in the NBA, as he averaged over two blocks per game multiple times throughout his career, but he has been on the decline for some time now. McGee was a solid lob threat and rim protector at his peak, and although some will remember him for his incredible size and dunks, Mavs fans will remember him for not living up to expectations.

Dallas signed McGee to a three-year contract following their run to the 2022 Western Conference Finals, and he was expected to be a major upgrade from Dwight Powell as the team's starting five and become the new anchor on both ends of the floor. The team clearly needed a starting-caliber center after Powell started in all 18 games of the 2022 NBA Playoffs, and Nico Harrison elected to bring in McGee to help address this need.

JaVale McGee takes surprising leap to the Illawarra Hawks of the NBL

Before McGee played a single game in Dallas, he was promised the starting center spot, and this was a move that confused fans, considering that they had also just traded for Christian Wood. It would've made much more sense to allow the players to fight it out during training camp to see who deserves to start, but Harrison and company put their money where their mouth was and made McGee the guaranteed starter before seeing him play a single game.

This didn't work out well, as he lost his starting spot at the beginning of November after starting for only seven games, and his role became minimal quickly. In the 42 games that McGee played as a Maverick in the 2022-23 season, he averaged a career-low at the time of 8.5 minutes per game.

Mavs fans were heavily disappointed with how poorly McGee played, and his performance as a Maverick quietly caused him to become one of the more controversial players of this era. Dallas signed him to be their new starting center, but he played so badly that they were forced to waive him just over a year after signing him to a three-year, $17.2 million deal to start.

Dallas even searched for a trade partner for McGee in the summer of 2023 before waiving him, but they never found a trade partner.

Their plan couldn't have worked out worse, and Mavericks fans may never understand why Dallas did what they did with McGee. Over $6 million annually for McGee never seemed like a good idea, and the team waiving him one year into this deal shows just how strongly they felt that he couldn't be a difference-maker within Jason Kidd's rotation.

NBL fans will now be hoping that McGee can live up to expectations while playing for the Hawks, and he could become a beloved face in Illawarra if he can play at a high level and control the paint on both ends of the floor. The Hawks are the defending champions of the NBL, and now they'll be hoping that McGee can help bring them another title.

This was the expectation for McGee in Dallas, as they likely believed he could help them reach another level after falling short in the Western Conference Finals, and Hawks fans will be crossing their fingers that this isn't a tale of two cities with their new big man.