JaVale McGee is no longer playing basketball in the United States, but NBA paychecks continue to come his way. While McGee is currently suiting up for the Illawarra Hawks in the Australian National Basketball League, he is actually still on the Dallas Mavericks‘ books.
McGee won’t be getting off the Mavericks’ books anytime soon, too, and Pro Connect on Instagram pointed out that he will earn $6,051.67 per day from them for the next two and a half years. That’s a pretty penny.
How did we get here? Well, the Mavericks had signed McGee to a three-year, $17.2 million deal back in 2022. The signing proved to be a mistake, with the big man averaging just 4.4 points, 2.5 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.1 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2022-23.
Despite two years being left on McGee’s deal, the Mavericks chose to cut ties on Aug. 29, 2023. They waived him and opted to use the “stretch provision” in the CBA. The remaining two years were stretched to five for salary cap purposes.
McGee was set to be paid $5.7 million in 2023-24 and $6 million in 2024-25. By using the provision, the Mavericks opted to have him on their books for $2.2 million per season through 2027-28, and that is how he is making about $6,000 a day even today.
By the end of this season, McGee would have made $88.8 million in total in NBA salaries, according to Spotrac. The number will jump up to $93.2 million by the time the 38-year-old gets off the Mavericks’ books in 2028.
McGee’s NBA journey actually did not end after he and the Mavericks parted ways. He would spend the 2023-24 season with the Sacramento Kings and then head to Puerto Rico in 2025. He won the championship there with Vaqueros de Bayamon, the fourth of his professional career.
Previously, McGee won back-to-back titles with the Golden State Warriors in 2017 and 2018. He then won his third with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.
In all, McGee spent 16 seasons in the NBA after the Washington Wizards selected him with the 18th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft. He averaged 7.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game for his career.
