JaVale McGee is a beloved role player that Los Angeles Lakers fans will remember fondly as a member of the 2020 championship-winning team from the NBA Bubble. Now, there is another team who gets to greatly benefit from his presence on their roster.
McGee joined the Illawarra Hawks of the NBL during the past summer, ready to help them defend their league championship. For those who think that team sounds familiar, it is the professional basketball LaMelo Ball played for, down in Australia, before entering the 2020 NBA Draft.
Ball had a successful stint with the Hawks, as far as individual numbers go, averaging about 17-8-7 in the 2019-20 season. McGee, a seasoned veteran of basketball, has likewise carved out a strong career in the land of venomous animals as far as the eye can see.
JaVale McGee is dominating the NBL with the Illawarra Hawks
For any Aussies reading this who might not appreciate the joke about the wildlife, I promise I love the country after spending a good stretch of my post-university life in Sydney. That just so happens to be the stage for this story as well, given the proximity.
The bad news for this tale would be the fact that Illawarra has not boasted a strong record during the 2025-26 NBL season despite the addition of McGee. The Hawks are currently 6-10, trending much closer to the bottom of the league, with an average point differential of -6.6.
These shortcomings have come at no fault of McGee's Individual play. The former Lakers center has posted strong numbers for the Hawks.
In 2025-26, McGee is averaging 22.3 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.1 blocks. 2.0 assists, and 1.3 steals per game. The former Lakers champion is doing this while shooting 59.0 percent from the field.
Naturally, that individual production exceeds anything McGee had done during his playing days in the NBA. Most of the counting stats from his best NBA days would not rival his NBL output. However, the success McGee had blocking shots as an NBA pro stands out as a notable exception.
Either way, the dominance displayed outclasses his last season in basketball's top league by a fair bit. McGee last played during 2023-24 in the NBA, averaging 4.0 points and 2.7 rebounds per game off the bench for the Sacramento Kings.
The 37-year-old is another key example of former Lakers who have been thriving overseas since leaving. McGee's time as a rotational big in the NBA might be done, but success has not eluded him in the career that has followed.