Veteran NBA center JaVale McGee has reached an agreement on a one-year deal with the Illawara Hawks of Australia’s National Basketball League, sources tell Olgun Uluc of ESPN.com. The team has officially confirmed the deal (Twitter link).
McGee, 37, appeared in 909 NBA regular season games from 2008-24, spending time with nine different teams across 16 seasons in the league. He’s a three-time NBA champion, having won titles with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 and the Lakers in 2020, and also won gold with Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
McGee last played in the NBA during the 2023/24 season, when he averaged 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 7.4 minutes per game across 46 appearances off the bench for the Kings. The big man didn’t catch on with another NBA team for ’24/25 and eventually signed joined Vaqueros de Bayamón. He averaged 17.1 points and 9.2 rebounds per game for the Puerto Rican club, Uluc notes.
According to Uluc, longtime Illawara center Sam Froling is in the process of recovering from an Achilles injury, so the Hawks were in need of frontcourt depth for the coming season. Illawara is Australia’s reigning champion, having defeated Melbourne United in the 2025 NBL Finals.
Would rather go anywhere, even to Australia, than to ever play for Steve Kerr again.
Many such cases.
Or he’s just not good enough for the NBA any more?
Davey’s slow lol don’t listen to him