2. He adds some much-needed depth
As presently constituted, the Lakers are a small team. Some of this is by design, as they plan on being a running team, and also because the NBA has fully transitioned into a small-ball, pace-and-space game over the past decade or so.
But sometimes you still need an old-school center to win in this league. The Lakers only had two such players on their roster.
Ivica Zubac, who had shown brief glimpses of his ability to be a decent NBA center in his two-year career, but has not put it together thus far. The other is rookie Moritz Wagner, who may have the potential to someday crack the rotation but has some work to do before getting consistent minutes.
There have been whispers that the Lakers will play Lebron at the 5 this season, presumably while rolling out their version of Golden State’s “death lineup”. But obviously, he won’t be able to do that all the time, especially at age 33, going on 34.
Contrary to appearances, there are plenty of productive true centers in pro basketball right now. Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, Jusuf Nurkic, Nikola Jokic, Anthony Davis and Rudy Gobert are some that come to mind. They can not only score, rebound and defend, but they are also legit widebody centers that are reminiscent of the dinosaur era of the 1990’s. JaVale McGee therefore at least somewhat fills a glaring need.
Even though he is somewhat lanky, Mcgee is a legit 7-feet tall and weighs 270 lbs. He can at least prevent those centers from bullying the Lakers into a slow-down, grind-it-out game that they won’t want to get into.
By playing some defense, boxing them out and limiting their team to one shot, McGee can help the Lakers maintain a fast pace and get the scores into the 110’s and 120’s, or possibly higher. If the score is more like, say, 98-97, McGee’s size, physicality and skills should at least help give L.A. a chance to win.