Every year in NBA free agency there are a few deals that are signed that leave analysts scratching their heads at why they were made.
Some free agent signings are pegged as poor ones right off the bat and the player proves people wrong. But, for every one of those, there is one that is correctly pegged as a poor deal and it plays out in that fashion.
This year, one deal that would qualify as such was the Dallas Mavericks’ signing of JaVale McGee. McGee has shown that he can be a valuable spark plug, providing energy and some highlight plays with dunks and blocked shots. However, the Mavericks paid a pretty premium price for him.
McGee signed a three-year deal worth $17.2 million very early in free agency. Dallas set out to upgrade their center position this offseason, but this was a deal that shocked a lot of people as they used a large portion of their mid-level exception to sign him and it is essentially fully guaranteed; there is very little chance, especially given how he has played thus far, that McGee will be declining his player option worth more than $6 million during the 2024-25 season.
LATEST NBA NEWS & RUMORS: JaVale McGee & Dallas Mavericks Updates
One NBA executive that spoke to NBA Analysis Network did not hold back when discussing the deal that McGee signed with the Mavericks. They believe this is one that looked bad when pen was put to paper and is only looking worse with each passing game.
“Guaranteeing JaVale McGee a starting job was bad enough for the Mavs. Giving him a three-year deal, fully guaranteed, was even worse. It hasn’t even been a quarter of the first year of his deal, and it looks like a bad signing. … Dwight Powell is a substantially better option. Maxi Kleber plays the small ball five role well. Christian Wood is obviously better. That’s three options on the roster better at playing the only position McGee can play.”
LATEST NBA NEWS & RUMORS: JaVale McGee & Dallas Mavericks Updates
McGee has started seven out of nine games that he has played in and is averaging only 9.7 minutes per game. He is scoring 4.3 points with 3.0 rebounds per game in what is proving to be a short-sighted decision by the Dallas front office.
Luckily the rest of the frontcourt is formidable, but McGee is proving to be a poor fit schematically for what Jason Kidd wants to run. The effort level that he has shown is also leaving a lot to be desired in the eyes of the executive.
“He’s played like a player who was guaranteed a starting spot. You rarely see him run up the court with urgency. He rarely gives off what you’d consider a presence when defending inside the paint. He’s also practically useless offensively when teams switch screens because he can’t just slip and catch lobs, and when guarding Luka Doncic, teams switch a lot. It’s been rough, to say the least.”
LATEST NBA NEWS & RUMORS: JaVale McGee & Dallas Mavericks Updates
For a team that is going to be strapped for cash when it comes to upgrading the roster, this was a huge miss. They will be limited in what they can offer to players in free agency the next few years and McGee’s contract will further handicap them as it doesn’t look like he will get close to providing the kind of value they were hoping to receive from him.
