Club Shay Shay - JaVale & Pamela McGee

Episode Date: September 13, 2021

On Episode 36 of Club Shay Shay, Shannon welcomes in Pamela and JaVale McGee, the first mother-son duo to play professional basketball and win Olympic gold medals! Pamela McGee is a USC Trojan legend where she was a back-to-back NCAA champion, she is also a 2012 Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist and the first WNBA mom to have a son and daughter drafted in the NBA and WNBA. We are thrilled to welcome in Pamela as our first female guest on the show! Her son JaVale McGee is a 3X NBA champion, Grammy nominated producer and member of the 2020 Olympic gold winning basketball team. JaVale currently plays for the Phoenix Suns. The trio discuss the Olympics, JaVale’s childhood growing up with a single mother who hoops, their humble beginnings in Flint, Michigan and Pamela’s experience raising not one, but two professional basketball players. Shannon goes on to ask Pamela both her male and female basketball GOATS! JaVale gives Shannon more insight into his NBA career, including his time with the Golden State Warriors organization at the height of their dynasty. JaVale also talks about what he can bring to the Suns, his Top-3 NBA rappers of all-time and much more! #DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week, you'll get all the latest news and the best analysis delivered by the time you get your coffee. The show hits every single game every single week, but I can't do it alone. So I'm bringing in all the big guns from NFL media like Colleen Wolf. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter and funnier than your friends. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Mike Wright from the Fantasy Footballers Dynasty Podcast. You heard that right.

The Fantasy Footballers have officially entered the Dynasty space. Every week, we bring you the same in-depth analysis and entertainment you've come to expect from the fantasy footballers only now it's from the dynasty perspective join me and the rest of the crew every wednesday for a new episode listen to the fantasy footballers dynasty podcast on the iheart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Want a slice, got the roll of dice. That's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. All my life, been grinding all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price.

Want a slice, got the roll of dice. That's why all my life I've been grinding all my life. Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Shea Shea. I am your host, Shannon Sharp. I'm also the proprietor of Club Shea Shea. And for the very first time, we have a lady stopping by for a conversation and a drink. But she's not alone. She brought her son. Today on the show, we have Pamela and JaVale McGee.

How you doing, guys? Good, good, good, good. Pamela, how was that introduction? It was good. You said Pamela and JaVale. Nowadays, it's JaVale and JaVale's mama. Let me go back. Let me go give you a proper introduction. I'm here with Trojan legend. She's a two-time, she's a back-to-back NCAA champ. She's a basketball hall of famer. She was a part of the team that got it started for the women winning the gold medal in the Olympics in basketball. They are the first mother and son duo to play professional basketball. She also had a daughter that played the WNBA,

so she had a son and a daughter to play professionally. They're the first American mother and son duo to win an Olympic gold medal. Is that better? Much better. Did I leave anything out? Is there anything I should add? Anything I should add? Oh, you forgot Hall of Famer. Yeah, I got Hall of Famer. I put that in there. That was second. I probably should have

put that in there first, huh? And I can't forget your son. I can't forget Pavel McG can't forget pablo mcgee's son javel mcgee three-time nba champ grammy nominated producer and a part of the 2020 olympic i guess you call them dream team everybody we send out to the olympics of the dream team gold medalist javel mcgee javel how you doing bro i'm doing good man doing real good pablo when you see your son and what he's been able to accomplish, how proud of you are you?

How proud of him are you? JaVale, I mean, I don't know if I'm more proud of his Olympic gold medal than my own. Okay. I just really just admire him from afar, his resiliency, and I just love that he just keeps going and the resiliency that he exemplifies. I swear I admire him as a man. Obviously, when you're growing up, you were a tall lady.

JaVale, obviously, we're going to get into his stats when he was born. But as he's growing up, did you know he was going to, did you know he was going to be a professional basketball player? Or you was like, now he only got two choices. He's going to be a volleyball player or basketball player. His mom played, so I think there's a very good chance he's going to be an NBA player. Well, to be honest with you, he'll

tell you, I told him, nah, bro, I don't see it. He really didn't turn around. No, we argued all the time, and I was like, nah, you want to get paid to play. That's another level. I don't see it. He really didn't turn around. No, we argued all the time. And I was like, nah, you want to get paid to play. That's another level. I don't see it yet. So JaVale, how did you play one-on-one against your mom?

Yeah, we used to play back in the day. How old were you before you could beat her? Probably like 14, 15. But it was like certain rules to that game that we played. Hold up, hold up. He was in high school before he could beat you? I mean 14, 15, that's high school. Yeah.

Yeah. So what were the rules? You got to ask her. She's good at explaining the rules. I think it was like how you could shoot jump shots or something. So Shannon. Yes, ma'am. So Shannon, he's one of those people, if he beats you,

he'll never let you live it down. Chess, we play checkers, we play Monopoly. We was like a family dog. We played games, right? And that fish, everything is competitive. And if he beats you, he'll never let you live it down. Like, when he turned

18, he was like, you know I'm a grown man, right? Yo, yo, you know you're talking to a grown man. You know, you're talking to a grown man. So it was like anything with him, he just gonna ride it. So I was like, if he beats me, you know, I got to make sure I try to win. So the rules was that the first person to three, he has to stay outside the three point line and I don't have to take it back. So literally, I could just rebound and put the ball back up. And I said, he'll miss and I'll score. Right.

But this is when I kind of light came on and I said, okay, he might have a shot. So he was behind the three-point line. He shot the ball. He missed. I got the rebound. He took one stride and pit the ball on the top of the square. And then he said, you didn't say I couldn't go 10 and i was like oh yeah it's a wrap

when you hear people say you're the first american duo american to win a gold medal you're the first have you know mother son to play professional basketball what does that accomplishment mean to you pamela what does it mean to you jaVale you first Pamela well Shannon you know being an African-American female mm-hmm just in there I was you know first the first black people to be integrated in the white school bust and all that stuff my high school was like you know half and half you know which will predominantly what we thought PWR predominantly white institution so I've always been the first, first person to graduate from college and my family. You know, my mother set a standard and she always said, you know, you're going to be tall, do what you do.

When you walk in a room, so everybody going to look at you anyway. So you walk in, let them know that you there. So my grandma, my mother was like, she had a lot of swag. She was also 6'2". And so I passed that on to my kids. I never told them. I said, look, you might be seven foot.

You know, you will always be different. But everybody want to be you. You the top of the food chain. Walk with your shoulders back and your head up. Javale? Can you say the question again? What does it mean when you hear you're the first American duo, mother-son, it mean when you hear you're the first American duo,

mother-son, to win gold medal? You're the first. She played professional basketball. You played. Your sister played. What does that mean to you? I feel like it means a lot, especially for the McGee legacy, I feel like. When you're a kid, you don't really think about what does my name mean

and what is it going to mean when I get older and what is going to be the legacy. But from what my mother started, it was just trinkling down to all of us. My sister made it to the WNBA. I made it to the NBA. She was drafted in the first WNBA. Number two overall at 34. At 34.

So just thinking about that. And then also seeing my mother at 34 be drafted second overall in the league is just like we can really do this for a long time and stay consistent and efficient at the same time. So it's just really it was really inspirational just her from the jump and then me just trying to drag on to those coattails and just grow on to it and add more to the legacy. Right. Pamela, as I mentioned, you were the first in 1984. I think that was the first you guys won the gold medal that year. So you really started, it really started with you guys. What do you remember about 1984?

What do you remember about, obviously it was here, you went to USC. So what do you remember about that? I was telling JaVale, I said, this is kind of surreal because when I played in the 84 Olympics, it was just a powerful year. We won a championship. The championship, the NCAA was at Pauley Pavilion.

And then I graduated that May. And then we played the Olympic gold in the Los Angeles Forum. My mom had to come out. So I was just, I've just been really excited about the experience. I've always been the first, and I always felt, when I saw Lucia Harris, she was 6'3", and she was an African-American who played on the earlier team.

And I said, when I was 12 years old, I want to play in the Olympics because I saw somebody that looked like me. Right. JaVale, you go to the Olympics. Was there any doubt you lose two exhibitions? And I know people say it's just exhibition, but we started basketball, and you never want to lose. And then you get over to the Olympics, and you lose the first game to France.

But was there any doubt in your mind that you guys were going to bring the gold medal home? No, not one doubt at all. Obviously, guys in those exhibition games, they lost a couple of games. And then the world tried to turn on their own country, on their own guys, saying that they don't believe that they can do it.

They're not as good as this and not as good as that. And then we lost that first game. But I don't think the world really knew how the Olympics works. I think they were just like, oh, no, they lost that first game. It's over. It's not going to work out, but obviously you've got to win out after that. From the jump, when we lost that game,

we were like, okay, we lost it, whatever, but we know who we are. We know who we have on our team, and we know what we can do, and we're the best people. We're the best players in the world. There was no sweat on anybody's brow from coach to player. Draymond and KD didn't have a problem with calling out some people that says, oh, y'all wasn't going to win.

Man, y'all losing to all these teams. Y'all lost to Nigeria in the exhibition. You lose to Australia in the exhibition. And you go to the first game and you lose to France. You end up beating France in the gold medal round. For sure. And they had no problem. Did you want to get out?

Because you're very active on social media also. Did you want to get out? Like, hey, did y'all really think we weren't going to win the gold, bro? I sort of wanted to, but I sort of felt like I wasn't there in the beginning when they lost those games. So I really didn't have that stance to be like, how y'all didn't believe in us,

blah, blah, blah. Because I had came in halfway through. But I mean still, it's still amazing to me that guys would have thought that the guys of the caliber of KD and Dame and just everybody who's on that squad, who were on that squad, were going to lose to another country. It just didn't make sense. But, I mean, once they saw that first game, that was like, they were like, oh, yeah, we were right.

They didn't understand what it really takes to actually win out. And I totally understand that we're the best in the world. So we knew what was going on. We knew what we had to do, and we handled business. You can speak to this. You won two back-to-back national championships in 83 and 84. JaVale, you were NBA champion. Compare the pressure of those games, winning an NCAA 2A championship,

winning an NBA championship, as opposed to the pressure of a gold medal winning an NCAA 2A championship, winning an NBA championship, as opposed to the pressure of a gold medal player for your country. Right. Pamela, you first. Well, I mean, for me, the gold medal set a standard for me because that's like historical. You know, your grandkids' grandkids would say, you know, my grandmother was an Olympian.

The NCAA is like just a gold because if you're a basketball player, you there. But what I enjoyed about the Olympics is meeting other people. I hung out with the boxers. Oh, they're a great boxing team. Yeah. You know, and I still know those guys. I don't know if you know Henry. Sweet Pea Whitaker, Mildred Taylor,

Mark Breland, Tyrell Biggs, Henry Tillman, Holyfield, Virgil Hill. I'm sorry. I'm a historian of the living. You better look at me like. And so, they don't know, I used to follow the boxers. And I started boxing, and I taught Jamel how to box.

Oh, okay. Because of the fact. Yeah, they challenged me. They said, oh, you couldn't do our workout. I said, man, I'm an athlete. What? Man, I did three, one round of sparring. I was like, man, all that running and stuff, I'm done.

I'm just boxing. I'm going sparring for three minutes. Loved it. You know, that jab and all that. That's the same footwork as defense. Right. JaVale, because obviously, because you're expected to win. For sure.

And everybody's watching you lose the first round, and then like, because you know, like you said, you've got to win out in your group in order to get to the medal rounds. Yeah. So you've added pressure because you lost the first game that probably you wouldn't have felt had you not lost that first game. Right. I mean, that first game that we lost, obviously,

but we had two games that we played that we knew we were going to win. Right. I mean, that first game that we lost, obviously, but we had two games that we played that we knew we were going to win. Right. I mean, we knew we were going to win the gold, but we had just lost to the team that we could possibly win in the gold. So we didn't have any doubts and we didn't we didn't disrespect have any disrespect towards them like they're not good. We understood what was on the table. But guys definitely locked in and did what we had to do and stuck together, band together, and made it happen. But pressure-wise, I feel like the NBA championships were a little bit more pressure. Just because you are on the world stage in the Olympics, but that NBA championship, that feeling,

and you know I'm three-time NBA champion. So that feeling of winning a championship, the goal is to make it to the NBA. Once you're there, the goal is to win a championship. And this is my 14th year. So your whole life, basically, you want to win a championship. In America, I definitely feel it's slightly different.

In America, I feel like it's slightly different when it comes to Olympics because I don't think as a kid, unless it's track, basketball, as a kid, especially growing up, you're like, the people who are in the Olympics are magic, Jordan. You're like, okay, you got to be that top tier to even be there. So let's try to win an NBA championship. So for me, I feel like it was definitely more pressure for winning championships in the league. I feel like it was definitely more pressure for for the making win the championships in the league Pamela Let's just say for the sake of argument once you graduate college

There's a WNBA How different do you feel your life would have been had you been instead of being drafted at 34 number two overall? You're able to go to the WNBA at 23 Oh, that's another level. You know how they say, my 23 game, the 34 game was tight. But when I was 23, you know, I could work out, bounce back, take a couple days off, come right back. When I was 31, I never got out of shape.

Right. And so, but I just feel like, you know, I don't really look like what if, because, you know, I'm the only Olympic gold medalist that birthed an Olympian. So I feel like I live. You already won. Not like vicariously through my son. Right. But I think that I feel like I passed the torch. And so every championship he win, I tell him that's 11 pounds,

11 ounces of that big old head. It's my championship too. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Time out, time out, time out. We got to slow down. We my championship, too. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. Time out, time out, time out. We got to slow down. We need a time out. We need a time out.

Hold on. How much did he weigh and how long was he? He was 11. This is a true story, too. This is a true story. I'm not making this up. He was 11 pounds and 11 ounces. And he was so large, they didn't know because back then,

they didn't really do ultrasounds because I had a healthy pregnancy. But he came out with a ball in his hand. He had six fingers, this is a true story, he had six fingers and the other one had fluid on it, it was shaped like a ball. Oh yeah, I was born with six fingers. And I would say he was born to play,

born to pray and born to play. And I saw my gynecologist he's the older man he said yeah i remember that boy he was growing with a ball in his hand and i saw after i'm just thankful that i can i get just as much joy when he wins his championships you know i don't always tell him because sometimes i gotta be mama you know how it is you're a professional actor yes somebody always like keep you grounded and i'm the one that, both of them, I keep them grounded and let them know that, you know, you're still from Flint, Michigan, and your grandmama was poor.

Couldn't spell the last two letters. Did you know he was going to be that big? Although, you know, I mean, obviously you had to be, like, way, way, way out here with almost 12-pound babies. Hey, Shannon, I was 270. oh wow wow wow wait wait a minute i didn't know that i was 270. but you you you there's a lot because you are you said you're six two so there's a lot for you to grow and with 12 pounds but what was your what was your weight like 190., you was 190. So I was 80 pounds of weight. She gave the extra 80.

How long did it take you to get the weight? How long did it take you to get the 80 pounds that you gained from with Jamel? How long did it take you to get it off? Well, you know, I went right back. He was born in January, and I went right back. I was one of the first females to take their baby with them to Europe. Right. Now I look back, and in my contracts, it was always they had to pay for the nanny.

Since I was one of the elite players, I mean, I won European All-Stars. Right. I won all kinds of European Cups. They allowed me, and that was in the negotiations, that they would pay for the nanny and that he could travel with me on every game. And he would sit at the bench in his stroller and the nanny would sit beside him. That was how I had to hook up in Europe. That was definitely a hookup.

You know what? You won back-to-back state championships in basketball, back-to-back state championships in track. You threw the shot put in high school. Back-to-back NCAA championships, 83-84. A three-time All-American. Won the gold medal, as we mentioned, in 84. You won world championships overseas. Played in Spain, Brazil, and Italy.

You were 2003 WNBA on your assistant coach with the Shock in 03. Drafted number two overall at the age of 34. Have you ever just sat back and thought about it like, damn, I accomplished a lot, and I did a lot of this as a mother? Right, and a single mother with no child support. Sorry, Javon. I hate to say it again. Hey.

Javon, say it again. We get into arguments like, yo, don't forget the struggle, bro. You remember how, don't forget the struggle. Who put it out there? Single mom. But one thing that I passed on to them, and I tell African American mothers especially, some of his teachers

and some of his administrators, well, you know, he come from a single family household. And I would say, look, Jesus didn't have a daddy. Look how he turned out. Don't give him that excuse. Okay. JaVale, what was it like watching you? That's the truth.

It's very true. Your circumstances should not define you. They should shape you, but not define you. Would you agree? Or, not define you, my point was, is the fact that don't allow where I came from to define who I am, it's where I'm going. Right.

And the work that we put in. Right. What was it like seeing your mom overseas? Like, my mom's a, I don't know how much you remember, like, my mom's a professional athlete. My mom's pretty cool. My mom is not, you know, she has a job, but it's not a normal job.

My mom, you know, my mom hooping. Yeah. I mean, it was amazing, but at the time, that's normal for me. Right. You know what I'm saying? So I don't have the experience of, oh, my mom's in the kitchen making cookies. Right. And I didn't have that experience as a child.

I had my mother's grinding, but her grind is basketball. So that's the grind that I saw my whole life, and I definitely think it helped me on transitioning from high school ball to college ball to professional ball of understanding what it takes to really be a professional. Just seeing her as a single mother with nobody to help her was amazing and she made do every single year. Pamela, that team, that USC team that you were on,

I don't think people realize how dominant, how good you were. You had Cynthia Cooper who could make a case she's the greatest WNBA player of all time. You had Cheryl Miller, who many believe is the greatest female player of all time, and you and your twin sister. Legend.

When you guys were playing, did you realize or did you know how special you were and what you were about to accomplish? Did it ever dawn on you? Well, I mean, you know, iron sharpens iron. I was never one of those players who didn't want to play with talent. I mean, I didn't play one championship with some of the greatest female players, Lisa Leslie, Dawn Staley, it goes on and on.

Right. I was one of them players that believed in myself as a player that nobody can do what I do. Right. And if you think you better than I am, that's all good because I'm going to ride with you on right i was one of them players that believed in myself as a player that nobody can do what i do right and if you think you better than i am that's all good because i'm gonna ride with you iron sharpens iron and i'm gonna get better just through osmosis but that mentality came i didn't grow up in the in the you know playing with dials i grew up in flint michigan at the park trying to get a game against men against the fellas you can't play because you're a girl. And I'm like, all right, I got next.

So I always just had that kind of – and JaVale would tell you as a mom, he would always say, why, mom, why? You can ask him that question. I'm listening at you talk. I can tell you're very, very competitive. And now I can understand why JaVale wanted to beat you so bad and rub it in. Because you're the type, you beat him, you don't let him forget it. Exactly.

So he wants to pay you back because you're like, as I'm listening to you talk, you said you were always probably the taller female in your school, in your class, and you said you didn't want to play with dolls. So you knew early on you wanted to be an athlete. I mean, to be honest with you, it was my mom. My mom really told me, she said, one day they're going to give female athletes a scholarship. And, I mean, literally my dad and her would get into arguments

because my dad said you need to be in the room cooking and cleaning. Ain't nobody going to get them girls no scholarship. My mother had a vision, and she said, y'all need to get y'all grades together i'm gonna let y'all play this basketball and y'all gonna and we were we were the first that went from aiw nc2a right and i was under that first cusp of title nine to get a full rise scholarship correct so i was the beginning of the whole really women's basketball revolution and the movement so So, as I mentioned earlier, you birthed a son that played, that plays in the NBA, has won three championship.

You birthed a daughter that plays in the WNBA. Currently she's pursuing- And is in law school. Pursuing a law degree, she's in law school. When you sit back, how do you feel about that? Like, I did, you know, as a single, I did all right. No, the only thing that my son reminds me, I'm just thankful. I just say, but God.

Right. That's all I can say. I just walk in humility. And it wasn't always sunshine. I don't want people to think that we just woke up. It was a struggle. JaVale knows the struggle. And we remind each other of the blessings that he just blessed his mama with a 2021 10 miles on a BMW X5.

And see, but this is my son. He had to talk me into it. Mama, I'm sending you a car. I was like, my car is good. It's paid for. I'm sending you a new car. He had to talk me into it. Yeah.

Because I'm just thankful for whatever. I understand JaVale's point of view because when you grow up, I'm closer to your age than I am JaVale's, but when you grow up in rural South Georgia, you don't have indoor plumbing, you don't have running water, you don't have a lot. You're 1,000 square foot with cement floors, cinder block, and tin roof. Once you make it, you want everybody that was a part of that struggle. You want them to have?

JaVale wants you to have because you are part of the struggle You should you should You have to I've always been the giver, you know when you're single mama you you really have to. I've always been the giver. You know, when you're a single mama, you really have to. I have to retrain myself. Put every dollar putting kids through private school, you know, and AAU travel. Right. And, you know, and he grew shoes every three months. And I wanted to make sure that he had the top education, too.

He's not only, he's an intellectual, too. Yes. And music, too. So I wanted him to be a full person. Because you know, basketball is not who we are. Basketball is what we do. Correct. And sometimes when we're in this fame bubble,

you know, you can get caught up. But I always tell him, but God, you know, stay right here. Because one day the same people that say Hosanna, Hosanna will say crucify him, crucify him. But you can always know that you got somebody who will always have your back. And no matter what, I would tell him, whatever.

I got you. If nobody else got you, I got you. JaVale, you know better than anybody the sacrifice and the struggle that your mama went through. Raising a young man, a young black man as a single mom, doing everything. She talked about putting you in private school. She talked about AAU travel, doing all the things, denying herself possibly maybe a better car,

maybe a nicer dress or maybe something. Just so JaVale and your sister could have. When you think back and you're like, man, my mom did all that. There's nothing I can't accomplish because I know if she did that, she poured some of what was in her in me. For sure, every day.

Every day I think about just the struggles that we went through when I was younger, having warm the water up with a hot, in the microwave so I could take a shower or wash up before school type stuff. Living in Flint but going to Detroit Country Day, which is a high private school, but we had to wake up early, like 6.45, drive 45 minutes to school every day, coming from Flint. Not being able to have my friends come over to my house, because at one point we were staying in a hotel, I think in my sophomore year in high school.

So I'm going over to my friend's house who's staying in Detroit country, who's playing in Detroit today. Obviously they got money. Right. I'm in there like, woof. They got a pantry, they got four, five rooms. They living. I'm enjoying that.

But I'm like, hey, why don't you come over to my house? Can't do it. I'm staying in a hotel double bed with my husband. So the struggle that we went through, like nobody can ever take that from us. And I don't care what she do to me. It don't matter. She can curse me out, call me this and that. Whatever she do, she good with me for the rest of my life and for the rest of my life for the rest of her life because because it's serious the the things she's been through just to make sure i was good go ahead pamela what were you going to say so what what the deal was shannon is the fact that i could stay in an extended stay and i knew i had one bill because i was stacking my chips so he

could go to this private school right give you scholarship, but you still got to pay your part. Right. And that's what I had to do coming out of a divorce that killed me. But, you know, I put it all back together. People just think one day we woke up. No, I did that. Raised both of them. They went to private schools. But one of the things he used to say to me, he'd say, Mom, I never see you cry.

I was like, dude, it's milk on the floor. What are we going to do? You got to get a mop. Crying ain't going to get that milk up, son. We got to get a mop. Wow. Flint, you born and bred. You grew up.

Hey, but look what I'm living in now. Yeah, look at you. You probably got about 10,000 square feet swimming pool. What? Double kitchen. I'm from the ground up. Thanks to somebody who said this for you, shorty. You see, that's the beauty of God.

You've got to show the full picture. Right. Flint, what was it like? How different was it for you growing up in Flint as opposed to JaVale? And JaVale, what was your experience like in Flint? And now because when you hear Flint, the first thing you think of is the water crisis.

Obviously, there's more to Flint than just the water crisis. So, there's more to Flint than just the water crisis. So what was it like for you growing up in the 60s and 70s, Pamela, in Flint? Well, people don't understand in the 60s and 70s, Flint had it going on. A lot of African-Americans migrated from the South because they was going into the shops. Right. The factories was working. So we had good school systems there

was a you know flint is the uh home of the uaw and the building of the mott foundation which built the four wheels right and so they donated a lot in the city so we got per capita most professional athletes that came in the nba came out of flint michigan per capita population so we had a a community school director program. I played every sport there was. The schools was open to 9 o'clock at night. And then after the factories closed, that's when Flint became a different story.

JaVale? Well, I didn't get the factory Flint. I got the post-factory Flint. Right. But when I was a kid... Yeah, that's real. And but when I was a kid, that's real talk. But when I was a kid, you don't really know what you're in. Like, I think this is just normal because you didn't experience anything. But that you know, I'm saying so.

So it wasn't that bad for me. But looking back, I'm like, wow, after I went up when I got to the league, I went back to one of the houses that I stayed in. I think it was on Key Street. And I'm looking at at it like how did I even like this is like a thousand twelve hundred square feet two bedroom like how does this even work like but and we we one year we didn't have running water we had an empty lot next to us like it was rough but at the time that wasn't we had running water okay well we had well it definitely wasn't well i ain't trying to get into the real details of us having crackhead neighbors who did our lawn but you used to do half of it i ain't hating on that because we did

for sure the reason why is because i had owned the house and I hold it out right and so I had to do we had to do right no one's down there ma no one's done it good you good now so that's all that matters right yeah you ain't got to cut the grass you're right no crackhead neighbors I don't think you got any crackhead they were we were and I was and then people don't understand, you know, you can, life hits you and you got to do what you got to do.

For sure. And that's why I just say, but God. I'm listening at you talk. I'm listening at JaVale. I'm watching you two. You have a very different relationship than most mothers and sons.

Is it because you were a single mother and for the longest time it was just you and him? Is that the reason why? Me personally, I feel like my mother had to, she had to be the father and the mother at the time. But she also had to, like, I feel like when a man raises a boy, he that that time of okay it's time for me to learn about this it's time to learn about that right but she seeing me she's like and looking at the world she's like no he needs to grow up you know I'm saying it's gonna be hard for a black man to to survive in this in in his world so he needs to grow up so she used to really not not she didn't get to be that soft mother where the father got to be the disciplinary

she was oh you you weren't going well in practice this morning all right we waking up at 6 a.m tomorrow and running around the school in the snow and timberland boots and i'm like i'm crying running around the school and she like suck it up like no no nothing at all after of course she's like oh good job baby all right get your ass to school you know know what I'm saying? So she was slightly a little bit tougher than I feel like the average mother would be. But at the time, that was necessary for her for me to be successful. It wouldn't have worked if she would have did it any other way.

Go ahead. Go ahead, Pabell. What my goal was, and he would talk to us, I said, you will not be a trifling black man. So one thing that we can't control is work ethic. And I had went into practice and he was just, no effort, just going through the motions. I said, I worked my butt off to get you in this

private school. The least you can do, everybody can out-shoot you. Everybody can out-rebound you. But work ethic? Get in there and work. And if you not, you're going to do it my way. Because you're a black man in America, we don't get second chances. We do it right the first time.

And sometimes I got extreme, but he got the message. You're a very protective mom. And there was this situation with Shaqton the Fool. And I had really never heard you talk. I knew who you were. I know what your accomplishments were because I'm in sports.

I follow sports. I study sports. This was really the first time I've ever heard you talk and step out. And I'm like, okay, when mom step out publicly, oh, there's a problem. Well, I mean, and you got to also understand that he got, you know, I had his ghetto card revoked, you know, we as African-Americans and we, we are as athletes, you know, we come from a fraternity and we got a code.

Right. Now, once you break that code. And also I told you, Bill, he forgot you in the league. I'm from Flint. So I ain't scared, but he need to know when you went too far. And I always, I've never apologized for protecting mine. Right. JaVale didn't grow up in the hood hood.

I grew up in the hood hood. Right. And so after that whole experience, you know, Shaq got his ghetto card revoked. Who didn't grow up in the hood hood? Because he need to be checked. And he got checked. JaVale, JaVale.

Where I grew up at. Yeah, JaVale. Where I grew up at. Yeah, JaVale said where he grew up at. I'm saying you wasn't in no drugs and that violence around. Oh, you're saying I wasn't in the streets. Right. That's what I'm saying. You wasn't in the streets because I was right there.

That's what I'm saying. You wasn't in the streets. You wasn't no hood, you know. You wasn't no hood. JaVale, you addressed it. You on social media. You thought he stepped over the line also. Truthfully, at the time when it

had happened, well, when it was happening, I wasn't in a position to really speak on it to where it would get any push, any clout. If I would have spoke on it early on, it would have been like, alright, whoever JaVale McGee is. you know what I'm saying? That's Shaq. But when I got to Golden State and we were winning, I was put in a position to where, okay, I can actually speak and have a voice and

people will actually hear. You're contributing on a championship winning team. Exactly. So it gave me that power to be like, all right, now I can actually speak on it. Because if I would have spoke on it before, then I'm like, all right, cool, and it still would have been going on. So I found the opportunity to actually speak on it, and things were happening where he was putting posts up where it was like I would go coast to coast and miss the layup, and then that's on the show, and I'm like, it's a missed layup.

That's extremely simple. Let's not overdo it. It was just doing too much. So, I mean, you draw the line somewhere and I had to you know It was it was in the public So I had to put it out in the public and put it on Twitter and say what I had to say But did you did you and Shaq have a conversation? Did you address it? We never had a conversation We see each other crossing paths like alright cool., cool, what up, but there's never no real conversation. But the thing about that whole Shaq and the Fool era of when I was on there is I didn't

realize what it was doing to my career until I started to move on to other teams. Right. Then I would talk to other coaches and middle of the year they'd be like, I've always seen that Shaq and the Fool stuff and had a different mental of you. And I never knew, like you're a smart kid, you're extremely vocal, you're a great basketball player. I never, but it was slowly chipping away at my reputation. As a young 24 year old athletic basketball player, young, excited, it was just slowly chipping away with every other coach in the league. Like, no, we don't want him, we see what he doing on Shaq and the Fool. But I mean, if you add any low light of – you can make a low light of Jordan

right now, and if you've never seen a highlight of him, you would think he was the worst player in the world. So, I mean, it was definitely a down spiral ever since I went on that – ever since that show aired of my career. Right. Wake up with football every morning and listen to my new podcast, NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal. Five days a week,

you'll get all the latest news, previews, recaps, and analysis delivered straight to your podcast feed by the time you get your coffee. No dumb hot takes here, just smart hot takes. We'll talk every single game, every single week, but I can't do it alone, so I'm bringing in the big guns from NFL media. That's Patrick Claiborne, Steve Weiss, Nick Shook, Jordan Rodrigue from The Athletic, and of course, Colleen Wolfe. This is their window right now. This is their Super Bowl window. Why would they trade him away? Because he would be a pivotal part of them winning that Super Bowl. I don't know why, Colleen. Catch the podcast at NFL Daily with Greg Rosenthal every day. Subscribe today and you'll immediately be smarter

and funnier than your friends. And who doesn't want that? Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. People's perception. Also, Shannon. Go ahead, Pamela. Shannon, I want to make sure we understand this too. That's why the gold medal is so powerful.

And kids got to see. That whole issue was bullying. And we as African-Americans, yeah, we can play the dozens and all that. But then it becomes, the Bible says there's life and death and the power of return. Right. We are taught to uplift each other and speak truth. Right. And so I had to get in it because of the black man that I know already.

Right. And I'll never let anybody, you know, disrespect and take it to the hood when we, and this is our jobs and we're professionals. Nor should you. But a people perception of you is their reality. For sure. If somebody don't know you, what they perceive you, that's who you are. Exactly.

And like you said, the coaches had this perception because that's what they saw. They didn't know you. Never mind. Once they get a chance to know you, like, well, hold on. You're not a dunce. You're not a buffoon. You're actually intellectual. You're actually thoughtful.

You can actually play. You can actually contribute to winning basketball. For sure. It's definitely perception, man. Perception changes everything. Ever since they were like, okay, we're not posting you on that show anymore, all I've been doing is

trying to build my reputation back up, build more and more into my brand, make my brand better and better, and that's all I've been doing ever since. You were in D.C. Pamela, give me a second. I'm going to ask him this, because i've got gilbert's side i want to get your side you were there with gilbert and the gun situation

with uh jarvis what actually happened um so we're playing we're playing cards on the what was the name of the card game guns in between bourree bour. Okay. Okay, the game called boo ray on the card game. I think it's uh Earl My guy Earl right here Gil right there Javaris right here and somebody else right here I can't remember. I think it was a five-man game and we playing I owe Earl some money Right and I have like a why cuz I keep I'm winning. I have like a wad in my hand, right? So Earl like can I get my money? I'm like, I got you, bro.

After the plane, bro. Or next flight. Because that's the rule. You pay next flight. You don't pay right now. Right. That's the rule. Next flight.

So I'm like, I got you. You know what I'm saying? Then Javaris chimes in. He's like, man, you can't have that money in your hand and not pay him. Why you speaking on another man money? And then Gil speaks to Javaris and is like, why are you worried about his day business? It ain't got nothing to do with y'all. Okay.

So they go at it, words exchanged, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And then Gil's like, all right, do it, whatever. So we get off the plane. We go our separate ways. You think it's over with? I think it's over. I don't think people are really, you know what I'm saying, doing what they're doing. So we get to the, I don't know if it's the next day or day after,

when we get to the locker room. I get in a little bit later than them two got in. So they like, hey, man, they tripping. People telling me, like, they going crazy in there. He brought a gun and, what do you call it, brought some guns too. And I'm like, what? So I saw, I think, one of Gil's that was like a gold one I was like Desert Eagle Desert Eagle in my opinion I'm like this is a nice gun but

but as a you know I'm thinking I'm what I'm 22 20 20 I think I don't even remember how old I was right I didn't realize the magnitude of what was going on right at the time until the media got a hold of and I'm like oh they might go to jail for this. Had you ever seen two men get into it and guns are actually displayed? No, I never seen that. I've seen guns before, obviously, on people in confrontations and shit, but I've never seen it in a professional setting in my life of people actually bringing guns to each other.

But see, Shannon, and that's the difference between old school teams and new school teams. You know, old school teams, they had issues, but that stuff never left the locker room. Right. Old school teams, you just knuckle it up. Old school teams, you fight it out, and hey, if somebody go win, somebody go lose, you just keep it moving.

Not only that, though somebody everybody go home what I'm saying is anything that went down the locker room stay the lock right oh yeah not that we didn't have issues right but it never left the locker room and then two brothers just solve a problem but it never got to like guns and all of that because it was never that violent right because you know they just yes it should have never been and if there was an issue it never left the locker room right those were the old school well it should never got i mean look it should never got that serious i mean you joking about somebody losing and somebody but that's how it is it's not the person that's telling the joke it's the person that's laughing at the joke that everybody want to fight right

why you mad why you not mad at him for telling the joke? I'm just laughing. And I don't think what people understand about, you know, Shannon, with professional actors, you know, money just exasperates who you are. Yeah, absolutely. You know, excuse my French, but if you an asshole broke, you gonna be an asshole rich. Right. You know, you just gonna be bigger. You're exactly right. So if a person, Jarvis is in jail right now.

Hey man, let's not speak on that man, man. We don't know what's going on in his life, man. Okay, I'm sorry, but I'm just saying. I was just sorry. My bad. JaVale, how has your mindset changed since you won those championships? What is different about JaVale McGee? You're still seven foot tall.

You're still 230 pounds. You're still that. So what is – how have you changed? Going to Golden State was definitely a blessing for me. It was life-changing, of course, winning championships. But just behind the scenes was life-changing for me, too. Just seeing a real organization work and how a real organization works and how they take care of their players

and how the players really run what goes on. It's not just, okay, the coach tells you to do something and you do it. And on my first two teams with the Wizards and with Denver, that's how it was ran. It was more ran of, okay, you listen to the coach. It's not ran by the players. It doesn't matter what the players really want at all. Golden State, the players had the loudest voices in the gym. If Draymond wanted to do this dinner with the whole team, it was going to happen. It wasn't a question,

nothing like that. This person wanted to do that, all the way down. So, and the way that that organization was set up is they were definitely a players team to where they made sure when we went to the playoffs, they made sure there was a family playing that went, so you can take your family with you. Wow. We were allowed to have like one friend a year to get on the team playing with us. I've never seen that anywhere else and still haven't.

Right. So just being able to be at Golden State and see a real winning organization and the way it's ran was amazing. And every place I went to after that, I got to take that piece with me and add it to another team. Like, oh, you should do this. That's what they was doing.

And they obviously winning at Golden State. You should add this. It definitely brings a camaraderie with the players, this and that. So it's definitely a difference in championship teams and championship organizations than these other organizations that are just playing for the lottery every year. Pam, I know you have to go. So I'm going to wrap you up with this question. What advice would you give parents? Forget, I'm not going to say, well, what advice would you give parents about raising a potential professional athlete,

son or daughter? No. What advice would you give any parent about raising a child today? daughter no what advice would you give any parent about raising a child today um if I had to raise a child today you got to train children differently you can't be just do this data you got to think them you got to let them make them think like you got to say give me a solution on how to solve problems because our children are inundated with so much negativity and there's so much social media and there's so much you can't control what the internet brings to them and it's not like the family setting where you know our kids went to church and and that you got to sit down if i had kids nowadays you got to sit down and have a relationship and make sure you create communication

where y'all can talk i i tell you the reason why Jubel and I are so close because he talked at the age of two and three in paragraphs because he was my only English-speaking person when I played in Europe. Right. So I never talked to him like a little baby. He was two and he would talk like,

Mommy, would you like to go to the store? I need some water. Would you please get me a bottle? He was just always intellectual. So even though I had him at like 24 or 25, I think we grew up together. Because even now I find myself like the teacher has become, the student has become the teacher. The teacher has become the preacher, whatever that is, the master, whatever. Because he really inspires me i

watch him i'm so proud of him the reason why we no longer deal with shackling food because the world has got to see what i see he's a you know his his uh youtube he's really showing the people who he is and he's just really matured through his 14 years experience and And I'm not saying that because I'm his mother. I'm just saying that, you know, he's an asset to the world. And he's just a good young man. And I just admire him as his mother. And I'm just really proud to say that I am. You know, I used to be, you know, this is JaVale McGee.

You know, that's Japan McGee's son. Now people like stop and say, yo, they don't say two time NCAA champion, Hall of Famer. They say, you JaVale mama, right? I wanna get you two questions. Who is the greatest female basketball player of all time? There was this chick named Alexia out of Brazil. But besides her, it's a tie between Cynthia Cooper and Cheryl Miller.

Okay. Because they were like revolutionized again. Right. Okay. This one, I'm going to see what you're going to say on this one. Who's the greatest male basketball player? NBA player of all time, the greatest. And you played on the

Olympics in 1984 with one MJ the black cat you said that quick babbler you said that too quick hey I was just saying what you know I was just telling people my analogy of the whole Scotty and all that and MJ, I always say that was Batman and Robin. But it's only one Batman. You know, now if you take Batman out the picture, it was Batman and Robin, but there's only one Batman.

Pamela, thank you for stopping by. We're going to continue this with JaVale, but thank you for stopping by. You are the first female to enter Club Shay Shay. Thank you. Hey, that's what I do. My mama the soul.

Love you JaVale. Love you ma. Thanks Shannon. Thanks for coming. Hey Shannon, I wanna say this too. I saw you when the issues came out with the Shaq and the Foo and I appreciate you for standing up for a sister that was fighting for her son. Thank you ma' appreciate it thank you on air thank you we need more

brothers like you to stand up and say y'all pull up pull up i've been there and what what what what it what if what what he does and what their careers add to our legacy and our generational wealth and our families i'm proud to be JaVale McGee's mom. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate that. Thanks for having me. JaVale, 14 years. You've been a couple of different places.

You were the Wizards with Golden State, the Lakers, Cleveland last year. You finished up in Denver, signed a deal with the Phoenix Suns. What do you feel you can bring to the Suns? They just, within the NBA Finals this past season, they ended up losing in six bring to the sun they just within the nba finals uh this past season they end up losing in six games to the bucks what will you bring and how does your game help deandre ayton um i mean i feel like my game definitely helps deandre ayton uh in a major way for just the veteran leadership alone and uh also on he when he gets into foul trouble, things like that, and having that veteran big to come in, that seven-foot block shots,

defend, rebound, and does all the intangibles that a real big man does. Because, I mean, shoot, the last two, three, four, five years, they've been trying to get us out of there. They've been trying to get the natural, live-catching, screen-and-roll big out of the league. They've been trying, get the natural, live, catching, screen and roll big out of the league. They've been trying, thanks to Draymond, that's my guy. But now we're starting to get that rep back, like, okay, we actually need Biz now. You know what I'm saying? So I definitely think it's necessary for me to pick up the slack, definitely with

the way, when he gets in foul trouble during the season, or even if you think in the finals, he was getting in foul trouble and then Giannis was having a field day. Right. So I just feel like it's definitely one of my attributes that I'm well at, being that defensive anchor and being able to control the paint. You're going to play with Chris Paul, Devin Booker, who you played with a little bit in the Olympics, won the gold medal with.

Chris Paul talked a little bit the other day about since going to the finals and experiencing that, he's addicted to it. What do you share with Chris Paul? You won three championships in the last, what, five, six years, so you know what it's like to get to the finals. You know what it's like to take the get-over-the-hump and win the finals. Yeah. It's consistency.

Man, it's consistency. That's all it really is. It's not easy to do. It's consistency. Man, it's consistency. That's all it really is. It's not easy to do. It's definitely about a team, though. That's what it's majorly about is the team. Is everybody on the team locked in? Is everybody 1 through 15 willing to sacrifice? Willing to sacrifice just a little bit just so that person can get off,

that person can get off. And the way that Chris Paul plays is extremely unselfish in my eyes. Right. He's 9, ten assists a game, and every big man that's ever played with Chris Paul has done well. So I just feel like Chris Paul is definitely the head of the snake, and he's definitely going to lead us to that finals again. You spoke a little bit about it,

but you mentioned about playing in Golden State and the type of atmosphere that it bred. The players have the strongest voice. The things that they allowed you to do that no other organization had allowed you to do that you felt was very conducive to winning. For sure. The way Golden State ran things was do whatever you want as long as we win. Right.

And you can give that freedom to a certain type of guy you can't give that to everybody a lot of guys will take advantage of that and be at the club every night right just doing whatever they want because they don't have but we had uh those two years that we wanted back to back we had a good group of guys true professionalism you know i'm saying and even if even if a guy went out to 3 in the morning, he going to come out, like in the last dance, you know Dennis Rodman was going to go do his thing, but he was going to come and outwork everybody. And I feel like 1 through 15, everybody was locked in on what the goal was. When I had got there, they had just lost to Cleveland,

but they had went to the finals, so they had went to the finals back-to-back. So day one, we're winning the championship. That was the mindset. It wasn't, oh, we're going to make the playoffs. It was we winning the championship. And, I mean, just the way that that team, that organization, takes care of those players, the players' families, the players' friends, is definitely necessary on a winning organization.

I just saw you vacation with Klay. What are your expectations? He's missed two years, had the ACL, tried to come back, was looking great last offseason. Terrence DeAchilles, two years away, two serious injuries for a basketball player. What are you expecting from Klay this year? I expect the old Klay, to tell the truth. The only thing I can see maybe we'll be slacking in that first month of the season is defense. Just because you know how aggressive Clay is and how good he is on defense. I don't think you're going to get those reps in the offseason or in practice on the defensive end of being able to really lock guys up.

So I think that first month he's going to struggle a little bit on defense, but offensively he didn't hurt his arm. Ain't nothing wrong with his arm. Ain't nothing wrong with his arm, so that boy going to shoot. I just saw Austin Rivers the other day, and he's with the Nuggets. The Nuggets were in the playoff last year. They got the reigning MVP, and they didn't get a Christmas Day game, and he's very upset with that. Do you believe the Nug they didn't get a Christmas Day game. And he's very upset with that.

Do you believe the Nuggets should have got a Christmas Day game? I don't. Fan-wise, like, just the level of how much fans love a team, I don't think so. Because I think, like, every team that's playing on the Christmas Day, people want to see those games You know I'm saying though Even if that team didn't make the right off people you who you gonna kick out right you know I'm saying you'll kick Steph and Clay right dream on out or you know, they want to see the Lakers in the net. They want to see Lakers Nets

They want to see that class right? So it's about entertainment and and everybody understands that so I don't Entertainment wise I don't think Denver should have been on the Christmas game. You were asked, playing with Steph, playing with LeBron, and you said something to the effect, I think you said it was better playing, easier playing with LeBron or LeBron was a different. So the question was, who did you enjoy playing with more? Okay. LeBron or Steph?

My answer was, I enjoyed playing with LeBron the first year I was on the Lakers. But they just, they cut off the first year. They just said, he enjoyed playing with LeBron. And then, you know, click bait. But I enjoyed playing with LeBron the first year on the Lakers because I was the starting center. Right. I had the highest – I had my career high 30 and 20 game. Right.

And I had scored – I had a career high in points that year. Right. So enjoyment, yes, I enjoyed succeeding. Right. You know what I'm saying? And having a successful season. Because LeBron allowed you to – because a lot of people are like, man, all JaVale can do is be a backup.

He come in, get you five points, three rebounds, a block, and that's it. Exactly. But he allowed you all those lobs, all those alley hoops, the screen pick and pop. Exactly. You're like, man, if I'd have had this dude my whole career, I might have been an all-star teamer too. Exactly. So I'm like, which one did I enjoy?

I enjoyed that. I didn't enjoy not playing a lot and going to state, but I enjoyed winning. I enjoyed hanging out with those guys. I enjoyed playing. But everybody has that selfish bone in their body where like, I want to succeed too. Right. You know what I'm saying? It's nice to win, but I like to think I'm a big part of this winning.

Exactly. When you guys won the championship last year, year before last, you were a big part of that. There were some series that you didn't play a bunch. But people forget we were the number one in the West and I was the starting center the whole year. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Right.

So when the playoffs comes, playoffs is situational. It's not matchups. You never know who you're going to get in the playoffs. Right. And they can change it any day. So I definitely enjoyed that first year with the Lakers. How is LeBron as a teammate? I mean, you know, you see him and, you know,

because I think sometimes now people have taken what he does for granted. Yeah. But how is he as a teammate? How great is LeBron? LeBron's pretty great. There's nothing you can really say about that. Just because when I used to see, I used to hear things like Bill Russell was a player coach one year. And I was like, how are you a player coach?

How is that a thing? But after going to the Lakers, I understand how a player could be a player coach. Right. Because just not only playing the game, when LeBron plays the game, he's thinking the game too. And he's low-key thinking for two other players also. Like, oh, you need to be there, you need to be there, we need to do this. If we're going to win this series, we need to change this. And he's a major part of that.

So I definitely think he's more of a player coach than just a player when it comes to just the cerebral part of the game. Do you think people take it for granted how great he is? I definitely think people take it for granted how great he really is. Just the things that he's done and Going was a nine he went nine finals in a row or nine out of ten Right in a row eight in a row and if you look and if you look at the some of those teams You're like who else did he have right to really help him? He didn't have like any super team He had a couple maybe if you count

Dwayne Wade and but it was a lot of a lot going on for him to still make it to the finals in those years You're investing you're a big investor You invested in the 2017 film all eyes on me about Tupac Shakur You invested in the vegan snack company outstanding foods with Snoop Dogg Beyond meat with DeAndre Jordan Kyrie Irving Chris Paul and your Toka or organic and Tokaya Organica. Tokaya Organica. Is that, what made you decide to get so involved in investing?

Golden State. Golden State, being out there. And my main, I feel like my main mentor when it came to that was Andre Godala. Just seeing the way Andre moved when he was out there and talking to these billionaires and talking to these guys and really getting in there and not just being a basketball player. You know what I'm saying? Being a real businessman was inspirational. I used to talk to him all the time on the plane and we'd recommend books to each other

and like, oh, I got to read that, you got to read this, blah, blah, woo, woo. So after that, I was like, okay, I'm in this situation. And he really, and it really made me see from the outside, looking in at my fame and my power of having fame to be able to invest in companies, not knowing really what, you know what I'm saying? You don't really know you're not a, I wasn't in behind the scenes of beyond me building the, you know what I'm saying? So it's definitely a positive thing of being able to invest in companies. And as a kid, you don't really know that. You know what I'm saying? I didn't really know that in the league until I got to go in the state that investing is as important as it is.

You got inflation. Inflation is eating up your money every year. As a kid, all you know is stack, stack, stack. We come from the hood. We put our money in the shoebox. You know what I'm saying? We thinking straight cash, that's the only way it is. But the world is so much bigger than that.

Right. You're a Grammy-nominated producer. Have you always liked music? What led you to the music? I started producing, so I was always a nerd when it came to computers, technology and everything. And I always say this, I wouldn't have survived being a producer if it wasn't for computers. Because now everything's on a computer.

So when I got out of college, well when I was in college, I got my first, what was it, I took a student loan out, $10,000. And I bought me a little laptop, put FL Studio on there, there was making beats made a little mixtape with my roommate Right and we I was just like oh, this is fun But it was more just fun for me and the technology more than anything just figuring it out on the computer of how to do This so when I got to the league I bought my first Mac and I got I got a program called logic and after that it was just like okay This is really something I can really do and I really enjoy doing this I was sitting my room every day hours

just trying to make beats and trying to figure things out so I've always been a nerd and I feel like the technology aspect of music really helped me out when it came to producing. You wrote and produced a song on the album called Title so I mean is that something that you want to go like further, further with? I mean, once you're done with basketball, are you going to vote exclusive your time to rap? You're going to still do, obviously you're going to still do a part of your investing, but how deep into the music game are you going to go once you're done with basketball? I mean, my ultimate goal is to be, is to not really produce or is to be more of an A&R

or more of an executive in the music industry. Okay. Rather than an artist. I just feel like, I mean, the older you get, it's harder to be an artist. I'm not really, and I'm seven foot. I never envisioned myself as an artist. That's why I always wanted to be a producer, to be behind the scenes. Well, my dad was 6'8", so you might be able to stay. Yeah, you know, but I just could never saw it. Right. So I definitely want to get into the executive role when it comes to music eventually

Been a lot of debate Top three NBA rappers of all time. I need them in order in order in order. All right Top three NBA rappers and all I'm to go number one, I'm going to go Dame. I'm going to go Dame as number one because I feel like he's the only one who really had the opportunity to take it as serious as he does. Number two I would probably say, I believe A.I. was a rapper, he had a rap song too right? Yeah, so I would say A.I. number two. And then I would go Lil Will 3. I'm going to go Lil Will 3.

Man, how you leave Shaq out? No, just because you went platinum. He went platinum off fame. I wouldn't say, like, lyrics. Oh, man. Give me your Mount Rushmore NBA players. Mount Rushmore. How many people in Mount Rushmore?

Four. All right, we're going to go Kareem. Kareem, one. Kareem. We're going Jordan. Two. I'm going to put AI on there for the little guys. Okay. Because he was a monster at being six foot.

He was a monster. The heart he had. A monster. And I he had, a monster. And I got to say Shaq. Yeah. That's number four just because he was the most dominant big ever, I feel like. All right. JaVale, thanks, bro. I really appreciate you and having you and your mom on.

I appreciate you giving me some time. Congratulations on the gold medal. Congratulations on your 14th year. Going to be in Phoenix. Good luck this year. Hope you get a championship. Thank you. Thanks for stopping by, bro.

Appreciate it, man. Appreciate that. I've been grinding all my life. All my life. I've been grinding all my life. Sacrifice. Hustle paid the price. Want a slice. Got the roll of dice. That's why. All my life. I've been grinding all my life.

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