Mavs Agree To Three-Year Deal With JaVale McGee

Well-traveled center JaVale McGee is on the move once again.

Per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, McGee has agreed to a three-year, $20.1 million contract to join the Mavericks, likely serving as a complement to new acquisition Christian Wood.

The final year of the deal consists of a player option, added Shams Charania of The Athletic.

McGee is expecting to start at center, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN, which would put him next to Wood in the frontcourt. So the Mavs definitely got bigger, and they made no secrets about that being one of their offseason priorities.

As MacMahon noted, the move also reunites McGee with his old friends from his Lakers days, Mavs coach Jason Kidd and assistant Jared Dudley. Kidd was an assistant with the Lakers when McGee was there, and Dudley was a teammate.

McGee said he thinks he’ll fit well with the Mavericks, who upset McGee and the Suns in the second round of the playoffs.

“I saw some opportunities out there where I was like, ‘Oh yeah, if they had a rolling big, they could dominate in a different aspect.,'” he told MacMahon.

McGee is 7-foot-0 and appeared in 74 games last season, averaging 9.4 points and 6.7 rebounds last season.

Per Alex Kirschenbaum of Hoops Rumors: “The annual money attached to the 34-year-old McGee’s next contract basically should cover the Mavericks’ full taxpayer mid-level exception.”