Lakers’ McGee defends ‘possum’ play
Leave it to JaVale McGee to innovate head-scratching highlights.
The 31-year- old former Warriors center of “Shaqtin’ A Fool” fame got another clip added to his collection Wednesday night as the current Laker got open for a dunk via an unconventional method against his old team: limping near the baseline.
McGee bumped knees with Draymond Green, and staggered out of bounds briefly. But when he saw Green move over to double-team Anthony Davis, he could smell an opportunity.
“I was like, ‘Forget the pain. I’m going to go get these buckets,’” McGee said, recapping the play after Thursday’s practice. “So I just ran back in and got a dunk.”
It was one of the six baskets McGee got in a 12-point night against the Warriors, who he’s thoroughly annihilated throughout the preseason. The possible favorite to start at center next week, McGee received three assists from Davis, who he said he’s built chemistry with throughout the preseason.
Even within the Lakers organization, though, what coach Frank Vogel called McGee’s “possum” play got special attention.
“We watched that in film this morning and everybody had a good laugh over it,” Vogel said. “Great play by JaVale. … There’s a lot of ways to get open in this league, right? That’s a new one.”
McGee emphasized that he didn’t fake his limp after bumping against Green – he felt real pain. But he also couldn’t keep himself from laughing either as he talked about what he called “a cool play.”
“I didn’t fake it,” he said. “I just want everybody to know that. I really did hit my knee. But I sucked it up like the real man I am.” CHINA WANTED ROCKETS GM FIRED » NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Chinese officials wanted Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey to be fired for his tweet supporting antigovernment protesters in Hong Kong, and the league emphatically dismissed the request.
Silver also said that the league is already feeling “substantial” financial losses because of the Chinese reaction to Morey’s deleted tweet.
“Obviously, we made clear that we were being asked to fire him by the Chinese government, by the parties we dealt with, government and business,” Silver said Thursday during an appearance at the Time 100 Health Summit in New York. “We said, ‘There’s no chance that’s happening. There’s no chance we’ll even discipline him.’”
The league and LeBron James, one of its biggest stars, has been heavily criticized by some U.S. lawmakers for the perception that they caved to the Chinese regime. Morey has not been rebuked publicly by the league, and Silver has said that the league will support his freedom of expression.
“We wanted to make an absolute clear statement that the values of the NBA, these American values — we are an American business — travel with us wherever we go, and one of those values is free expression,” Silver said. “We wanted to make sure everyone understood we were supporting free expression.” OTHER NEWS » Two-time All-Star forward Luol Deng signed with the Chicago Bulls and retired as a member of the team that drafted him. The No. 7 overall pick in 2004, Deng averaged 14.8 points and 6.1 rebounds over 15 seasons with Chicago, Cleveland, Miami, the Lakers and Minnesota.
• The Lakers exercised their contract option on forward Kyle Kuzma for the 2020-21 season. Kuzma, who is currently out with a foot injury suffered while playing for USA Basketball, will make over $3.56 million next season in the fourthyear option of his rookie contract. He is making $1.97 million this season.
• Bradley Beal agreed on a two-year extension worth nearly $72 million with Washington, a major victory for the Wizards and a move that will keep the All-Star guard out of free agency for at least the next three summers.