JaVale McGee: Leave
JaVale McGee has a player option next season and you could absolutely say that the ball is in his court and that he is going to stay in Los Angeles next season. However, the Lakers do have some power in this situation and I think that leads to McGee leaving the team.
McGee was really a non-factor in the NBA Playoffs. He was not good during the seeding games once the bubble started and that translated into the playoffs. He started for the Lakers originally but eventually played himself off the court.
Dwight Howard is a more talented center. That is an undebatable truth.
I think that there is legitimate legs for DeMarcus Cousins to re-join the Los Angeles Lakers next season, giving the Lakers a tandem of Cousins and Howard (and maybe a rookie from the 2020 NBA Draft).
Meanwhile, I see McGee being part of something bigger: an offseason trade. We’ll talk about that a little bit later but the Lakers could use McGee’s contract as a filler contract to make a trade happen. Of course, it would take him knowing that is the reality and opting into his player option, which he should still, as he would get paid.
If the Lakers do not make any big trade maybe they trade McGee for a future second-round pick just to get him off the books. Either way, I just cannot envision McGee being a Laker next season.