JaVale McGee talks Kings experience, life in NBA & Keegan Murray with Deuce and Mo

JaVale McGee talks Kings experience, life in NBA & Keegan Murray with Deuce and Mo

we’re really excited about this getting the chance to catch up with a guy who’s a three-time champion yeah Olympic gold medalist has played over 900 games in the regular season almost 75 in the playoffs I mentioned Olympic gold medalist too yeah it’s true it’s true let’s welcome in javel McGee how you doing javel I’m doing well how you guys doing we are good we appreciate you taking some time I I you’re doing a lot of cool stuff that we want to talk about we’re recording this on a Wednesday and we just learned about the legendary Jerry West passing away I know you had some crossover when he was with the Warriors potentially what do you think of when you you think of Jerry West um I mean obviously think of the the face of the league uh the emblem of the league um and one of The Originators of the of the NBA and and and winning um his legacy stands uh I mean he he might have one of the best legacies ever he’s literally the the the emblem of the NBA so um I mean it’s just a sad day that he had to pass and uh yeah we just blessings out and condolences out to his family yeah man just a legend I was telling Morgan this morning what was really cool about him is like he seemed obsessed with basketball even in his later years I remember at Summer League last year he’s sitting in Vegas at the Thomas ax center the entire day watching basketball I’m like this guy’s obsessed yeah super Co absolutely absolutely well you’re doing a lot of cool things too you’ve got this charity softball event coming up this weekend at Suter health field uh Suter health park and reading up about the cause I’m like dude I love this and the story behind it is pretty cool you you started years ago posting about how much water you’re drinking and you did the hashtag jug life and then this turned into you raising awareness about why people should be drinking water and then hey we need to get clean water to people building Wells and all this stuff why why do you why was this so important to you um I mean my Foundation jug like water found uh like you said we started it I started it by just drinking water and then uh things fell into place to where I had the opportunity to start a whole foundation and uh go to Uganda and build water wells and uh after that experience we decided that we should expand it a little bit more and go around the world and uh especially us and and educate kids about the importance of drinking water and uh living active an healthy and active lifestyle so um being able to do that it it was definitely a blessing and and and it just Sparks some ideas to where we we we get to give back to the community uh we also get to give water which is a a bare essential we can’t survive without it and uh it it’s kind of humbling to be to be able to be in America and get water whenever we want go to the public water fountains in the park and just get it uh water out of a holes it doesn’t matter you can get anywhere out here but uh where we go and build water wells they have to travel 20 30 miles by foot um carrying 20 20 gallon jugs uh jugs of water of contaminated water back and forth to their Village so it’s it’s really dis hard me yeah it’s something people obviously don’t think about every single day here and you know I I know for me growing up like I played Sports I played basketball so like I remember just the importance of water staying hydrated all those things right but then Deuce didn’t even mention this but I know his lifestyle growing up was very different his family didn’t have a lot of money they grew up on um but then they didn’t were they also weren’t educated on the importance of water so his mom would shove sugar and Kool-Aid together two cups of sugar and Kool-Aid there we go a lot of that all of us all of us all of us had the had a little bit of water a lot of bit of sugar and some Koolaid and soda so now I am dude check out my jug right here this I carry this around all the time and now I like I can’t live without it um but like to your point like we as As Americans like we just go get water whenever we want it think it’s so cool that you really want to make an impact with that that that’s that’s big especially using your platform in that way so now you’re doing the softball event at Suter health park that’s coming up this Saturday 4M tickets at juglifewater decom and you’ve done this before so what what can people expect if they go out there and watch you guys out the field I mean they they can expect they can expect a great time uh a couple of my teammates supposed to come out um some other some other of my celebrity friends supposed to come out uh we just got confirmation that Matt Barnes uh is a team captain of the other team um he’s a Sacramento Legend uh so it should be a great time we usually have a home run derby and then we have the game and uh just a lot of family fun you know and it’s Father’s Day weekend so you can bring your dad and uh just have a good time you you say it’s a good time but you just said Matt is the coach or the leader of the other team I we we’ve worked with them on NBC Sports California very competitive I mean he’s going to be it’s going to be a competitive game right absolutely absolutely absolutely um a lot of people know your story about your mom playing in the WNBA and I’m curious how much she influenced your love for the game and how did she influence your love for the game of basketball um I mean she technically she introduced me to it uh she she showed me I got a firstand uh view of what it took um and I got it from a female perspective which is even crazier I didn’t get it from a male perspective where uh everybody every man is playing basketball um every woman that wasn’t playing basketball at that time so just having just just being in the background and being on the sideline and being able to see this woman with a with a tenacity and and and how hard she worked every day to be great um not knowing what the future could hold cuz the WNBA wasn’t around until 97 and she got drafted in that first inaugural season when she was 34 wow so she had been playing since College you graduate college at 22 she been playing that whole time I don’t know what is that 12 years before the WNBA was even created so I got to go overseas with her and and different countries and see so much of the world with her um as a professional basketball player when when did you know that you were going to be in the league like oh I I know that this is going to be my path uh the funny part is I didn’t know until until year I was drafted my sophomore year in in college wow yeah I didn’t have I didn’t have that that that McDonald’s allamerican story that number one player of the year and all that I didn’t I didn’t get any of that in high school uh I was always tall um I was extremely skinny um I had a great work work ethic but I really didn’t know the game like that I didn’t really study the game so I really didn’t get that that exposure to exactly what I the the the IQ of the game that didn’t come until until I got Le so you’ve played in this league a long time 16 seasons was this 16 for you yeah man that’s crazy I mean that’s a journey huge accomp what’s what’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned playing in the league like when you what what do you tell some of these young guys that you’re around about your experience um it’s a business it’s a business uh over anything the NBA is a business and if you’re not that star player who’s averaging 30 you have to do other tangible things on the court to stay let alone on the court but in the league um and I think a lot of guys think they’re better than they are or they might be that good but they might not had the opportunity yet so uh it’s a very humbling experience to last this long in the league you haven’t been if if you’re this long in the league you’re either a perennial Allstar and you’ve been averaging 20 the whole time or you’ve had a lot of humbling moments where you could have Ed it and you had to just humble yourself and make a decision like okay I’m I’m I’mma bite my lip on this one because it’s some things in the future that could go well for me if I just don’t say anything in this situation there’s plenty of situations where you’re putting where you’re putting in situations to where you feel like okay this ain’t that I need to this is my team I need to do this and do that and the upper everybody upstairs is like no we’re going with this young guy who’s averaging 35 points we’re going to go with that guy instead of that so it’s definitely a business uh over anything and I feel like as a young kid I didn’t realize that it was it was a more it was more emotional but the more I got in the league I realized okay they’re running the business just the same way as Coca-Cola’s running the business the same way as uh all these other uh companies are are are running their business and I’m an employee and I need to do things the right way for the company and grow the league and help grow the league and the company so when I figured that out it was it was a breeze for me was there a moment specifically that you it clicked with you like I figured it out is there anything that you can point to uh I just feel like I I don’t feel like there’s a specific moment where it happened um I feel like when I went to the Warriors though it it kind of opened my eyes to more things you can do in the league I feel like before the Warriors it was just play basketball go home um and then when I got to the to to the Warriors I saw the way that they moved around I saw the the meanor the way they spoke to people and the way they built relationships outside of the outside of basketball and inside of the organization we talking to the GM we we we we talking to the coaches we taking the coach to dinner we we it was more of a social thing than I expected when I first got in the league I was more I’mma come in go to practice uh say hi to the coaches and go home I don’t need to hang out with people outside of that but then when I got to the Warriors I understood like it’s a goal to every year it’s a new goal to win an NBA championship and to do that we all need to be on the same page so when I got to the Warriors it was more okay we’re having dinners on the road and you can bring your family with you and everybody’s just in the same I got got Draymond over there with his cousin and I’m here with my auntie and got Ste coach Steve cerr over there with his son and we all can just he rented out the whole restaurant so we all can stay together even while we’re on the road it was just a different energy and and I I tried to bring that to other teams that I that I go to and let them understand like is it’s a reason that the warriors were winning it wasn’t that they had Steph clay and Draymond it wasn’t just that it was the fact that even off the court they made it to where it was a family function and we were all as one on the road and on the road that I mean and at home that connection and that chemistry really is important and I think people there’s some people out there who understand that that haven’t played and then there’s other people that just talk and they go chemistry is just whatever you got to have this player this player this player but truly that connection having vocal leaders out there and everything and I remember last season Mike Brown after a game I don’t I think it was a game that you didn’t even see a minute on the floor and the first thing he came out and said was talking about the importance of you and you uh talking to the guys and being that vocal leader and you talk about staying in the league and finding those those niches and and those doing those little things why has it been so important for you especially in this last season with the Kings to be that vocal leader um I mean it’s very important just because like I said this is a business and the team all the team is trying to do is win so if if I I was in a situation last year where I wasn’t playing as much as I wanted to play um cuz coach felt like he wanted to go a different way um and I mean I took it personal but I didn’t let that personal feeling come out into the court because I know I’m a a leader I’m a veteran on this team and what I bring to this team is is is is tenfold what what uh what I can bring on the court um I bring leadership I bring uh a vocal tenacity I bring a a demeanor in the locker room where it’s uh no one can can can mess with us and it’s a lot of guys who go into the league and they can go and give you 20 but they don’t have no heart you get what I’m saying they don’t they if somebody push them out of they just let it happen they don’t they don’t say anything back to that person and you can’t survive with a lot of guys like that so when when when I believe the team the the the the game that coach was talking about was I believe we played the Spurs and we had one but we barely beat him we barely beat the Spurs and at the time the Spurs was the worst team in the league and when we got in the locker room I looked around and I just saw the guys were content with it and I it just it just rubbed me the wrong way I didn’t play a minute that game G either and and I I wasn’t I wasn’t technically mad about that I was more mad about the aspect of these guys were cool and it was towards the end of the season we were trying to make that playoff push also so I’m just like y’all cool with this like this isn’t this isn’t winning basketball cuz I’ve been on teams where if we play Bad teams the the third and fourth string is about to play the whole fourth quarter because we got it done in those first three quarters and being a vet I am and seeing the guy the team that we have I believed especially in the beginning of the Season that we had that type of team to where we’re going to put teams away and we have the possibility to go late uh to go late into the playoffs um so that was just my mindset the whole season so when I saw that and we were happy about beating the Spurs by three or something and almost losing to him it kind of it was a disheartening feeling I had to say something in the locker room and it got really quiet I was going back and forth with a couple of the guys and it was just an energy that I hate it I just didn’t like that energy um and I was just trying to change that in the culture of the game that was the only problem I really had man just reflecting on this last year you know I looked at this team and I went man there were times they look you guys look like a better team than you were the year prior and you thought like this team like had something that they make some noise like you said and it just seemed like the consistency you know losing games I mean you talk about the the the win against the Spurs you had to escape but it was like the loss to the Pistons at home when they like nobody and you know had to battle Memphis a couple times I lost to Charlotte I mean I can go on and on with some of these tough ones yeah it do you look at this as part of like the growing pains for this group or is it something like deeper that like hey you have to do some soul searching it’s definitely a growing pain and this is a growing pain that a lot of people don’t understand uh you have a successful season prior the season before and you go into that that next season with the utmost confidence oh yeah the league can’t mess with us we we had the best offense we’re doing it we’re doing it well what some teams don’t realize is they got a whole year film on you now and they know the way you play now that that year before they didn’t know you were going to come out that way and and and and be as as exciting as you were so that next year is going to be harder it’s not going to be easier it’s going to actually be harder because now they’re like okay they got the they had the number one offense last year we know how to stop that now we’ve watched 82 games and some playoff games of what they do and and now we can actually prepare have a whole year to prepare for it so I just feel like this this year’s team wasn’t prepared to be greater they were prepared to be great but they weren’t prepared to be greater than they were to the year before because they didn’t realize that everybody in the league and also everybody in the league got better also the West St this year was yeah it was in the West was no joke don’t don’t forget that aspect um just being like you didn’t know who was coming out the West in in this year so that’s that’s the crazy part about about the West we have so many good teams so you can be great one year in the west and then the next year you can literally not make the playoffs and that’s what happened to us this year was there anything about domas and dearen when you came to this squad that surprised you about them that maybe that you just didn’t realize before actually playing with them night in and night out um I I feel like with Foxy’s Foxy’s defense was was a lot better than than I had uh visualized before I hadn’t watched a lot of Sacramento games but Foxy’s defense is in in person is is is pretty electric um seeing the way he he he guards and then his Pace the whole game is is pretty impressive um he has some bumps and bruises during the season um and I think that slowed us down a little bit also um and then seeing seeing the tenacity of domas and the way he’s going after boards and and getting triple doubles every damn near every game is is was really impressive also seeing that uh up close um on the sideline so that was pretty cool Malik Mon’s value to the team I I was telling we talked to about him one all year long just kind of The Vibes he brought but also I just think his confidence just comes out there with some Swagger and obviously he’s got a big decision made coming up in free agency take us inside like what did he mean to this group um I mean I always always say this um when when guys ask about the types of players you need on certain teams and Malik is one of those types of players you need one of those dogs one of those guys that come from uh that come from nothing and uh look at the next man ahead of him or and the next man behind him and stare him in the eyes and tell them you’re not taking my spot that that’s the type of guy Malik is and uh a lot of teams I feel like teams need two or three of those guys on every team um and and and and Malik is one of those guys and the the dog mentality he came in every day and and fought uh was necessary for this team Yeah you mentioned that I feel like that was one thing that was missing maybe from this group of times just barking back a little bit you know there was a game early this in the season against Houston and dear was out it was early in the season kind of some new group you know new faces playing with each other I remember Dylan Brooks through like dwarte the and I I’m on my couch I’m jumping up like I’m gonna get him go go shove Dylan Brooks like I’m not saying swing or anything but like that can’t happen and this is what um and I don’t mean to switch subjects but this is the the Caitlyn Clark thing that’s going on right now where she’s getting knocked out and blah blah I’m not looking at the opposing teams as as if they’re doing something wrong I’m looking at Caitlyn Clark’s teammates as in why why are y’all letting them yeah mess with the franchise like the things that like this is the lady that literally got y’all private flight like like she’s growing the league if I’m that person on if I’m the 15th person on the bench uh if I’m the 15th person on the bench of Indiana and I see Caitlyn Clark get knocked down I’m running on the court and pushing the the the lady that just knocked her down I’ll get a tech I don’t care and I feel like it teams need those type of people and I don’t I don’t think the WNBA I don’t think the WNBA players have those type of players yet to where like the the Charles Oakleys the udis haslams the the guys who you like okay they might not go out there and give you 15 and 10 but you know if you come to that lane people are going to dribble out like n cuz he going to f me too hard I don’t I don’t even want to do that or or I’m not messing with him because this guy is about to come behind him and and start some problems do you think though for like maybe for the women though like because less money Shor or leash that maybe there’s like the fear that comes in or like n screw the fa saying this what I’m saying if if I’m Caitlyn Clark’s teammate I’m going up to Caitlyn like anybody knock you out again I just need you to pay my fine yeah that’s it got it yes yes she getting 30 million from from off the court what you call it she can pay that I don’t know what the WNBA fines are but what are they $500 $1,000 yeah I can Caitlyn please play this fine for me and I got your back in any situation it’s true I mean you just can’t let it happen like come on well and even just you having that mentality I feel like I feel like if I go down the roster of the Sacramento Kings I I just think of like Tre lles Malik you as like guys with that dog mentality that are like going to have your teammates backs I mean can someone though can you teach that into somebody can you teach that into players like with the chemistry of a team like how does that how else does that come along so so so it’s only two it’s only two options to teach it’s only three options to teach somebody that is the the first option is you can’t teach it you there’s no you just doesn’t have it the second option is you have it and it’s one of those guys that have it and the third option is a guy who doesn’t have it but he’s getting tired or getting beat up and he just that’s it’s the end of his leash and he’s like all right well now it’s time and you like why why he just blow up like that it was built up and then from there on out no one messed with that guy because he was sick of it but you only have those three types of guys yeah you have the guy that don’t doesn’t have it at all the guy that that that that uh does have it in the guy that got it later so yeah we we talk about the difference between good and great and steps have to be taken whether or not you’re back what what do you think is the next step for this king’s group I I say I say this in every interview just getting getting some of those guys getting some of those guys we got Shooters we got guys like Keegan Murray who are who are pure scorers and Shooters but Keegan doesn’t have that that bark in them I seen I seen Keegan get 45 points um and not say a word or a smile I’m like what like bro I’m I’m I’m more hyped for him than was for himself like you have 45 points if you don’t talk some [ __ ] hold your hand up with long something please um but but yeah we just got to get I feel like they just got to get some of those guys because the other tangible Pieces come on man we got domas we got foxy we got Malik we got a lot of guys that are that are that are putting up numbers rebounds blocks and and you put those together you just need about yeah three of those guys who will really go out there and and three of those dogs that are really bark like said you know I I heard a story about Keegan like back in high school he had like a short temper like he would get hot I’m like I feel like that’s in him somewhere really he’s one of those guys that maybe you can get it out am I crazy come on javelle get it out of here got ke Keegan’s from Iowa though so it’s just like I don’t know like who who was the who was the guy he was barking at in Iowa you know what I’m saying where’s where’s Malik from Malik’s from Arkansas or Alabama it’s some rough in Arkansas yeah you get what I’m saying so it’s like a difference of who barked at who but yeah I’m I’m really high on Keegan going forward I I’m ex excited to see what he looks like too because you know there’s so much I think there’s always pressure on young guys and he started his rookie year had a really good rookie year I thought his defense got way better offensively he didn’t shoot the ball consistently all the time but he showed a little more uh what what do you see in his his potential uh com comfortability I just think he needs to be more comfortable and himself um I think he needs to it’s going to sound weird but coming from a person who was in the locker room with him I think he needs to up his off thec Court uh energy um he’s and I’m I’m a guy who who who knows what guys are doing and Keegan doesn’t do anything he goes to the gym and goes home and then goes back to the gym maybe two or days and like that but he’s very focused on basketball and I just need think he needs to socialize a little bit more just so he can and and it’ll show up on the court and that’s just my personal opinion of it because he’s so locked into basketball like it doesn’t make not going to no dinners not going to he’s going back to the hotel ordering food he’s going to watch film and I’m just like absolutely you need to be locked in to that aspect but you need to squeeze a little bit of fun in there also just because you’re in the NBA you’re making millions of dollars and you need to it’s just a balance and I’m not telling him to go out to the club or anything like that I can’t even that you know what I’m saying I’m not telling him any of that energy but I’m saying you’re in New York for four days you need to be going to dinner for two of those days and enjoying some time with your friends I’m not telling you to drink or anything but you need to be enjoying the city and and and reaping the benefits of your spoil because you you work this hard to get here go go to go to Time Square and and be a tourist I love I love that perspective I I think that’s I I wouldn’t have thought that would be something that he could actually work on or any player for that matter but you’re so right I think that goes to anyone in life too about finding the balance because it just makes you better at the thing that you love the most it makes you better at the thing that you love and you appreciate it more right now I feel like being so locked in on basketball to where you don’t do anything else you tend to it gives you an anxious feeling that’s what say you’re putting pressure on yourself if if I make a mistake it’s over for me you turn into that person um sometimes you need things to relax you and and and get your mind off of basketball even if it’s for one day out out of a week you can go ahead six six days straight but one of those days you need to just take time to yourself and get out and experience new things I I want to ask you about another young guy then this is one I just love the story because we watched him a lot his rookie year he played in Stockton Keon Ellis and just seeing his growth and and just seeing him get this opportunity late in the year and make such a big impact like he really I thought shifted the team’s defense in a major way with how he played um did did you see that in him early on I know some like Harrison Barnes talked about you know I I just knew he was going to be a good player what what kind of stood out to you about Keon um the thing that stood out to me about Keon was definitely his work ethic uh he was in there early every day late every day um working on his shot working on his handle working on his communication um working on being a better teammate um working on uh his body treatment in the ice tub SAA he’s making sure that he’s doing all the right things and seeing that from such a young guy um who was technically a two-way um was was pretty impressive yeah Mike Brown you know there’s there’s something about him the way he coaches the way he connects that I mean we just see from the outside that we appreciate and like seems like a basketball mind and everything um what makes Mike Brown a special head coach uh I mean besides the fact that he’s been doing it for so long and he’s coached some of the greatest it it kind of I feel like that kind of sprink sprinkles in to where he can be like I I have the resume um I I’ve I’ve coached guys that are technically better than than you so if you can’t listen to what I’m saying and what I’ve seen greater players do so you could be at that level um then then you you’re not along for the ride and uh I believe guys when they when they look at Mike Mike Brown they they they they he gives them that belief and they lock in and and follow his lead so how much do you have left in the tank you’ve been doing this a long time do do you envision still playing truthfully I I I I haven’t envisioned me not playing uh I got a I feel like I got a Tesla electric charger just charge me back up and I’m good I I don’t you saying left in the tank I am not a gas car you’re plug them in and go that’s right I I see yeah I see the car you’re driving around yeah you just plug in I am a cyber Tru I am not a Ford F-150 man let me ask you this what keeps you going is it just the love for the game being around I mean you’ve done it for a long time you could give up now and be fine it’s it’s first of all it’s a game let me just put it in that aspect it’s a game and I come from vehicle City if you don’t know vehicle city is it’s Flint Michigan and and and the way Flint Michigan worked was the the the Ford had all of their factories in Flint and then they moved them to Detroit and once they moved them to Detroit everybody that was working in Flint went broke and went poor they were paying they were paying high school graduates or I mean not not even high school graduates people with no GDs $50 an hour $45 an hour to work at the shops so everybody was eating everybody was winning and then it was just taken away from him at at one moment and and to the point where they were called uh vehicle City and then they named Detroit Mo Motor City because they took it all over there and then it was just and it was a demise of Flint Michigan my city so I’ve seen the worst you get what I’m saying I’ve seen the worst I’ve seen something been taken away from somebody and then them going downhill from there so the fact that I get to play I’m from that City and I get to play a game and make uh millions of dollars to play a game I can never take that for granted in my life I like there’s nothing I can ever take even it I don’t care how hard it gets I can’t take that for granted oh I’m tired today oh but did you work a 12 hour shift or did you play game like you’re playing a game for two hours and then you do treatment for two hours and you come back for another hour and get some shots up that’s 5 hours out of your 24-hour day you have 19 hours to sleep and be with your family so I don’t I don’t look at this as a job at all I look at this as a a a commitment that I’m committed to for life um my goal is to play for 20 years um but so and I have what four more left so my my like you said my tank isn’t empty and and and I just keep I I enjoy it and and also I enjoy it I enjoy the game like I enjoy the camaraderie I enjoy being around these guys in the Brotherhood I enjoy uh being coached I enjoy uh trying to it’s it’s it’s the game is like a puzzle to me and I enjoy all these people bringing their pieces and trying to complete this puzzle it it it’s fun it’s it’s just fun I can’t it’s hard for me to explain like it’s just no it’s just yeah when I explain it it’s just bright it’s just a bright light like I love it I love it no that’s passion it’s it’s like we do I could never Envision doing anything else and I feel they told that I could do broadcasting until I’m dead like I won’t retire I’m born and raised in Sacramento and I I’m evolved with the team that I grew up rooting for like to me it’s it’s a win I want to do this forever absolutely so do you want to return to Sacramento or are you kind of like look I mean if I’m not playing like I’m want to go somewhere where I have a chance to play have you thought about that I mean I mean I definitely I definitely want to go somewhere where I have a chance to play um but that doesn’t mean I I’m if if if they want me to come back that’s not a option um I love here in Sacramento the fans are amazing uh one thing that was different to me is is having uh loyal fans to where they meet you on the road and and and being in the same hotel with you and everything I’m just like okay you guys are obsessively passionate about this team like I’ve never seen anything like this uh but it was all love though it was just it was just pure pure love um from the fans so and then the city is is a is a great City to where it’s not too much to do but it’s enough to do for you not to get in trouble and not saying I was going to get in trouble or anything but it’s it’s it it’s a great balance of okay just lock in on basketball and go go have some good food every now and then but just lock in on basketball um hence why I was surprised at at at our us not making the playoffs just because everybody was so locked in that’s that was like and then I’ve been on teams where guys weren’t locked in and we’ve made the play you get what I’m saying guys are out every night and I’m just like I don’t know how you guys are doing this you guys are out every night and still going out there and scoring 30 this team is the total opposite of guys that didn’t go out at all and were coming out focused and everyday treatment lift after the game treatment after the game lift when we land in in in the city practice uh up till 10pm getting treatment like the dedication was at such a high level I just didn’t understand how we didn’t it didn’t reciprocate into the playoffs yeah and I I hope for some of these the players like you you’ve won a championship you know what it takes but like some of these other players haven’t gone that far at all I I hope it leaves them hungry this offseason like hey yeah we had the excitement if we made the playoffs for the first time in 16 years got bounced by The Warriors but man we made something it’s like no no this is how tough the West is we haven’t arrived we have to like to be great we got to elevate to a different level and I think when you talk about dedication just like ja is saying you know like it’s there when it comes to their the physical sense it’s mentally where’s that leap everyone can change and shift and you know having people like you around that maybe allowed them to experience something else too hopefully that just grows on to them and and allows them to even take another leap mentally so hopefully hopefully I I I sprinkled a little bit of um winning knowledge on on the guys and I was an impactful vet uh when I was there for sure well we appreciate you taking the time we’re super excited about your event encourage all the fans to go check out javel McGee’s celebrity softball game jug life Foundation is his foundation get your tickets at juglifewater decom it’s coming up this Saturday June 15th 4M Sutter Health Park javelle mcil does he have some pop in the bat we’ll find out we’ll find out but it’s also there it is there it is it’s a great time to go see some CBS hang out have a good time at the Ballpark and raises money for an amazing cause javelle you’re the best man we appreciate you taking some time to chat with us thank you appreciate it nice to see you guys that’s a one and only javelle McGee they tell you what they know deuce and Mo dece and mo the you know

Deuce and Mo catch up with 3-time NBA Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist and Kings center JaVale McGee about his NBA journey, his experience playing with the Kings, why they fell short of the playoffs and his foundation called Juglife and why he is so passionate about providing access to clean drinking water around the world.

For tickets to his upcoming JuglIfe Foundation Charity Softball Game in Sacramento:
https://www.juglifewater.com/

0:00-McGee joins Deuce and Mo
0:39-On the passing of Jerry West
1:24-His passion for getting clean water around the world
5:10-How his mom influenced his love for the game
6:26-When he knew he could make it to the NBA
7:22-The biggest lesson he learned in the NBA
9:07-What he learned from his experience with Golden State
11:10-Why being a vocal leader is important to him
12:40-Why he didn’t like how team responded to a win vs. Spurs
14:08-Was this year growing pains or something deeper?
16:30-What surprised him about Fox and Sabonis
17:12-What Malik Monk meant to the Kings
18:08-Why the Kings need more dogs
20:30-Can players develop a “dog mentality”?
23:05-Advice for Keegan Murray and why he’s high on him
26:12-What he saw from Keon Ellis this year
27:00-What makes Mike Brown a special coach
27:40-How much does McGee have left in the tank?
31:10-Does he want to return to the Kings & thoughts on missing playoffs
34:05-His celebrity softball game in Sacramento
________________________________________________________________________
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