The Herd with Colin Cowherd - The Draymond Green Show - Javale McGee

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

Javale McGee joins 'The Draymond Green Show' to discuss the rocky start to his career on the Wizards and Nuggets, how joining the Warriors changed his career, why he hated 'Shaqtin’ a Fool,’ what makes the Warriors organization different, why he decided to vlog during the NBA bubble on the Lakers, how he got nominated for a Grammy on a Justin Bieber album, the Mavericks season with Luka Doncic, and more.  Produced by: Jackson Safon #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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What's up, everybody? Welcome back to the Draymond Green Show. In life, there's just certain things, and those things are, like, just what they are. Like, some people say it's Bible. Some people say it's facts. whatever you call it. The fact of the matter is, one of those things in life is that Flint and Saginaw, Flint, Michigan and Saginaw, Michigan is connected. It's intertwined.

It's like one and the same. Both produces great basketball players, both produces stars, both produces great people. Blue-collar cities. And when you come from those places, you carry a certain thing with you. I'm honored to have a guy from Flint, Michigan, as the guest today.

But not only is this guy from Flint, Michigan, and we have that connection. We actually have one of the best connections that you can have. And when you play basketball, it don't get no better than that connection. It's my brother, Javelle McGee, three-time NBA champ, two-time NBA champ, here with us to go and stay warriors my brother welcome to the show how you doing i'm chilling man

i'm chilling i'm chilling appreciate you having me bro absolutely man i am excited i am excited as hell for this episode not only um you know because it goes so much deeper than basketball like this is for those of y'all that don't know this is a guy that i still have an incredible relationship with that's my brother beyond any basketball stuff to the point that last year i was doing this podcast, or actually I tweet it. And I tweeted something about this guy right here. And I was laughing and I was joking. And he hit me up like, yo, what's that about?

Like, why would you tweet that? Like, that's bullshit. And I'm like, yo, I didn't take the tweet that way. But if that's what you think, like, if that's the way you took the tweet, then I apologize to you and I was wrong and I'll make that right. Like, that's the relationship here. So I'm excited as head. to have this conversation.

Facts. No fake internet love. Just hits you right away. Absolutely. Absolutely. But, I mean, let's get into it, man. 16th overall pick in the NBA draft. 18th pick.

18th pick in the NBA draft. In the 2008 draft, it's crazy to think you've been in the league. What's this, your 16th year? This is my 15th. 15th year? That's crazy to think. You know, for a guy who they never really gave a chance to make. What's just, what's, just talk to me about that 15 year journey and what's it been like for you making it,

the way you have, becoming a three-time NBA champion and all of that good stuff? I mean, it's been a, it's been a long journey, for sure, and it's been a lot of ups, a lot of downs. And just consistency on believing in myself, that's really the only thing that I've been consistent on through everything is believing in myself, believing in my lows. I still can do it. Leaving in my highs, I've got to continue to do it. So just self-confidence, if anything, and the structure of being from a town

that they don't think you're going to go to college, let alone be a part of the 1%. And if people don't understand, 1% is like the net worth for $500,000. That's 1%. That's a fact. Network for $5 million is 0.01%. So just $500,000 net worth is crazy from where I'm from.

So just being able to make it as far as just amazing. I think it's absolutely incredible. And your career, it got off to a rocky start. Like it wasn't all piece and cream. Like you grew into a guy that, and we'll get into this as we go on, but you grew into a guy that became the missing piece of championship teams. And like I said, we'll get into that. But it didn't start off that way.

Like, just walk me through starting off with the Washington Wizards and how that was. Starting off 18th pick. So if you know anything about basketball, if you're not lottery, which is, I think, top 13, they don't really care about you. You're just a, they, you're going to go through the process. So I came in, you know, 1 through 13, they automatically, okay, we're giving the ball to you. we don't see what you can do. Let's go. For 18, I came to a team with Brendan Heywood, Karam Butler,

Antoine Jamieson, Gilbert Arenas. And I believe it was after the year they had just went far in the playoffs. So it was more of a winning mindset when I got there. So it was like, Javelle, you're probably not going to play. And then I think we were going to, we were going to play in Germany. and one other city overseas for like, you know how in beginning of the season and some team do preseason games in different countries. And Brendan Haywood broke his hand.

So at the time, we had Eddie Jordan as the coach and Brendan Haywood broke his hand. And we had Eton Thomas also. So he was ahead of me also. But I don't think Eddie Jordan and Eton Thomas were seeing eye to eye at the time. So that for my career propelled me. straight to the starting lineup for the first 10 games of the season. So we go 0 and 10 the first 10 games of the season. They fire Eddie Jordan.

Boom, he's gone. So at that point, and Gilbert Arenas is hurt this year also. So we don't really have that team, that same team. Gilbert Arenas is hurt this year. So they fire Eddie Jordan and they bring in the player development guy, I believe that's what his role was Eddie Tapscott. Not sure who that guy is. Exactly.

He's still over there, too. I've seen him one, I think last year. He's still over there. I received some role. And Eddie Tapscott, he didn't rock with rookies. So from just that point, I had a whole 360 turnaround. I'm like, no, you're not getting this starting role. What do you think this is?

And it was over from there. I was sent to the bench to that rookie role. that humbling rookie role. So my rookie year was extremely humbling at that point. I believe the next year they hired, Eddie Tosca was the interim coach until the end of that year. The next year, I believe they hired Flip Saunders.

And me and Flip Saunders never really rest in peace and me and Flip Saunders never really saw eye to eye. But it was the impart of him being a tenured coach that knows a lot and me being a young, young player that understands how to communicate with coaches but doesn't realize once I get to the NBA, these aren't your bosses. These are your, your coworkers. And you guys' relationship should be a coworker vibe. It's not like college where you look at your head coach is like, oh, whatever he's saying goes. Like, you know what I'm saying? So it's different. And that's also a maturity thing. Like, I wish,

I wish that Ricky transition program they teach you about that. Like, your coach is your coworker. He's not your boss. And you're going to it. Yeah, you go into it with that mindset. And sometimes. And I feel like I went into that mindset.

And some things I couldn't take. Like, I'm from Flint. Like, somebody talked to you crazy or talk to you a certain way. You don't respond the way you should sometimes. And I was extremely short news back then. So we didn't. really get along. I believe I sat maybe like 42 games, DMPs, my sophomore year,

uh, from just not getting along with the coach, if anything. I don't know if it was or what it was, but just not being on the same page. Um, I believe the next year he got fired or, yeah, I believe he got fired and then it was, uh, I can't remember his name, but he was the coach. And then we got another coach. I forgot his name. I always forget. But, that's four coaches in my first two, three seasons on my first team. So, which is crazy. I'm there with some other young guys, Nick Young, Andrei Blatch, Dominique McGuire, and we all just trying to figure it out, but we're all extremely immature.

Gilderinas wasn't healthy, so we didn't get to see the example of the Gil everyone knows. And Jim at 3 a.m., coming back. laid three, four times. We had the, I'm injured, so I got a bag. I'm having fun, you. And it rubbed off a little bit on all of us, for sure. Yeah. So we picked up a little bit of bad habits early on in my career.

I get traded. My third year, I believe. I go to Denver. And I think I'm traded for Nene. I went to Denver, and it's a whole different coaching staff. I got Coach Carl. Now, me and Coach Carl, we didn't get along in a certain sense. But my aspect of me not getting along with Coach Carl was more.

You got Costa Kufo starting ahead of me right now. That was no sense to Costa. That's my guy. But even Costa said to me, like, you should be starting. So when the guy ahead of you was telling you that it's just like, what's really going on? Why are we doing this? but that was before I realized the politics that goes in,

the basketball, the relationships you have to have with GMs on these teams. Absolutely. Like, it's just so much I learned actually after going to the Warriors. So I have a question for you. So check this. Do you think, because early on in my career, I felt like it's what I noticed just from the outside looking in. Obviously, I'm not in Denver.

but I think or I thought and I still think due to the contract extension that you signed with the Denver Nuggets that George Carl was punishing you for that contract that the Denver Nuggets signed you to. Because that's what it looked like to me. It felt like he didn't like the fact that I got that extension even though that playoff series before

I was a major part of that playoff series playing against COVID and the Lakers, me and Kenneth Pari. I don't know if it was that year or the year after we had 57 wins the year after that, I believe. So we had a good team and we're playing well. I don't want to say I was the best pro in the world, but I was also a young guy who had a hell of a motor and who wanted to play basketball. Like, I love playing basketball. If I'm doing anything, it's playing basketball I want to play. So I definitely felt, I don't want to say envy or anything, but more.

of a this guy doesn't deserve this so I'm a punish him for type of energy and that's how I felt about that situation um and then he left I don't know if left or got fired and then uh Brian Shaw came so that's six coaches in my first six years I believe so Brian Shaw came in Brian and me and Brian got got along pretty well but I had the year before Brian Shaw came in I got injured. And I had a stretch fracture in my shin. Yeah, yeah. I got a rod in my shin right now and I'm having for life.

But yeah, I had a stretch fracture in my shin. So I got to, I only got to play, I believe, 10, maybe five games starting under Brian Shaw until I had to go out and just rest my shin. So I never actually got to play for Brian Shaw. And then I believe they bought, no, no. They traded me to Philly after that. Yeah. So that's seven coaches.

And then I, and then I, uh, and then I got waived or they bought me out. They bought me out after that. So in my mind, I'm at a moment where, oh, shit, like I got bought out. I understood the buyout process, but of course I have the 100% belief in myself to where I'm going to get healthy and I'm going to be straight. But at a certain point in my recovery from my shin, uh, you start getting doubt, you start doubting yourself and doubting like, uh, Is this going to last?

Like, is it over for me? Like, this is an injury that some people just don't come back from. And I'm out one of those people. So after that summer, I got bought out. I went to, I started a two-year team option to Dallas. Dallas. If I'm right, that's eight coaches or seven coaches? That's eight.

Eight coaches. Rick Carlis. I'm still feeling the pain in my skin, but the doctor, tells me, well, the best news is you can't break it again. So you can just fight through the pain. So in my mind, I'm like, well, forget it. I can fight through the pain. As long as it don't break, that's all I'm worried about.

But if you really think about that, that's a crazy thing. That's crazy. Like, you're supposed to live in pain every day? Every time you take the court, you're supposed to fill pain? That's nuts. That's crazy. That don't make you hate basketball. You see what I'm saying?

And it's a crazy aspect of myself being able to put myself in that mental mindset of Fuck it. I'm grinding. This is what I'm here to do. I'm going to do it. I'm going to fight through this pain rather than just being like, you know what? No, it still hurts. Sit out. But I took that, I took that advice. I took it to heart and I said, you're right. It made sense to me. It's not going to break. So I might as well play through it. So I played through it that year. I didn't play a lot that year. I was, it was hard for me to condition that year just because I was still in pain. So I gained a couple of pounds. I was about 270. 270. I thought I was buffed, but I didn't realize I was fat.

So to put into perspective, what is your comfortable playing? My comfortable playing weight, 255. Okay. That's 15 pounds. You feel every single one of it. Every, I'm not jumping as high. I feel every time I jump. Like, but in my mind, I'm like, and this is coming off of the Dwight Howard era of him

dominating every center. You have in, oh, your Dwight's next. Let me do some pushups in. some extra bench presses before this game because the white is a beast. So I'm like, okay, maybe I need to be bigger. Maybe this is fine than trying to play through that. And that year, so that year went through, I didn't play a lot. There was nothing really to talk about.

And they decided not to pick up the team option the next year. So now I'm in a point in my career where I'm like, okay, I don't know. I have no idea what's going to happen now. There's not a guaranteed year coming somewhere else. It's not, no one's calling the phone, anything. And I'm injured, low-key. Not injured, but I'm in pain. You say that.

I'm still in pain. So I'm trying to figure things out. But I never doubted myself to where I knew in my mind, if I get healthy, it's over for everybody. But I just got to figure out how to get healthy to the. When the doctor tell you you won't break it, it's fine. You just got to deal with the pain. Is that like a doctor you're going to see or is that a team doctor? It's a team doctor.

And it's also the doctor that did my surgery. Okay. I chose not to go to the, well, this is a funny thing, too. I don't like the fact that doctors have no empathy at all. I hate non-empathetic doctors. Like, I understand you see people that are going to die every day, but have some empathy. Because when I was going to get the ride in my shan, I talked to the doctor. before the doctor in Denver,

he was like, oh yeah, it's going to be easy. We don't open up your knee. We're going to knock the rod in there, put some nails in your ankle, nails in your knee, and you'll be good three to six months. And I was just looking at them in the face, like, well, you know what you just told me, bro? What?

Open up my knee, throw a rod in the middle of my bone and put screws on my ankle in my knee. So I was like, no. And they were saying it's a possibility you could just rest and heal it for six months. So I was like, well, I'm going to try to heal it for six months then. I don't want to get surgery. So I do the healing for six months and they're like, no, it's still there.

You got to get the surgery. So just the way the doctor was talking to me and just be a go put a ride in. I was like, I'm not going to you. I'm going to somebody else. I give the second opinion. I find a guy in Florida who in Miami who decides he can put the ride in, but he doesn't have to put the screws in. And I was like, that sounds way better.

put the rod in the middle and you don't have to screw in my ankle, screw in the top of the bottom of my knee. That sounds crazy. Like, that didn't make sense to me. So I went with the guy in Miami and put a rod in my shin. And, yeah, that's how that went. So this is after I got away from, or they didn't pick up my option the second year in Dallas,

I get a call from you guys, go to stay warriors. But the caveat about this is, it's not guaranteed. We got a spot for you. Not guaranteed. It won't be guaranteed until January. So you want it or not? In my mind, I'm like, I want to go to the damn near champion.

I believe it's the year y'all lost 3-1. We lost that. Or y'all lost it. But I'm like, I want to go to a championship team? Yeah, for sure. I'm definitely gone. So I'll go. And that whole experience, it changed my mindset on how.

how basketball is supposed to be played in a team aspect. It changed your mindset on how it's a player's league and players communicate with their coach, with their GM and full transparency and also just that he's the coach, like that college mindset rather than, no, this is my peer. This is my coworker.

It changed my mindset on that aspect. And it really just showed me what championship basketball is about. And it changed your career. By far. By far, I changed my career. It changed the perspective of, I always had that perspective, that chip on my shoulder. Oh, this is the guy from Shacken the Fool. This is the guy who made funny plays and this and that.

He's not that smart. And definitely going to go and stay changed the whole 360. It changed 180, really. Let's talk about that. So Shackton the Fool, because this is actually something I really want to talk about. When we just got on this call, obviously no one will see this. But Jackson, our producer, asked Javelle, are you on a laptop? Javelle said, no, are you on a computer?

Javelle said I'm on a laptop. And I said to Jackson, he was like, okay, cool. And Javelle said, yeah, I'm a big tech guy. And I said to Jackson, one of the smartest guys when it comes to any computer or anything with a computer, but really in life, one of the smartest guys I know when it comes to these computers.

And I said all of that to say, you had this reputation of, like you said, almost like a clown, like Shaxton a Fool, he makes these dumb plays, this, that, and other. Now, quite frankly,

as a part of the media now, although I don't operate, like most media operate, everything's narrative-driven. right like you get these narratives they take on the life for their own and quite frankly in the day and age we live in where social media dominates everything and everything's a constant 24 hour news cycle those narratives become reality facts and this was the this was the rise of social media also this is when twitter when the NBA started Twitter when NBA started Instagram it started putting it content out and figuring out how content works absolutely so So during that time, your own Shaqton of the food every week, every chance they get your own Shaq and the fool. And for a while, I felt like before you got here, you would say something back and forth

with Shaq. Then once you got here, A, you're playing great basketball. I mean, incredible basketball. The minutes that you're playing, whatever minutes that is, whether it was 21 minutes one night, whether it was nine minutes the next night, there was 24 minutes, whatever minutes you play, you play great basketball.

Then something happened between you and Shaq, and, like, what happened to where all of a sudden now you're not on Shackton the Fool? I mean, it felt like three times a week. Right. It was like a last straw. I've seen an episode.

I'm watching an episode. You know, people tag you, for everything. I'm like, all right, what I do down? So I watched the episode. I think I went coast to coast and I missed the layup. I was just like, did they just put me in a shackling a fool for missing a layup? Not air balling a layup, not nothing crazy. Just went coast to coast. I might have did it move. And I just missed the layup. I'm just like, all right, bro, this is it, bro. I'm not going for this shit no more, bro. Like, come on, bro. You already had your, first of all, you're a perennial Hall of Famer. You know what I'm saying? Like, your reach is

global. Like kids in villages in China know who Shack is. So the fact that you keep putting this narrative out there about me, first of all, my first question is why. Do I know somebody you know that you feel a certain type of way about something or is there a reason that this is happening? And then the second part is, why do this to another black man? That's what really like, like, because I don't see the white athletes in the league. I I don't see you hitting them every every time. So I believe I had a moment where they, when I was on Denver and they interviewed me about it. And I was just like, I don't like Jack and the Coon.

That's just not my thing. I don't like that. And they thought it was funny. It was skipped over it. But then they look at it now and they're like, oh, shit, okay, he was on to something. He understands what's really going on. So at that point, I just didn't understand why I need to be. the butt of his jokes.

What did I do to him to where I need to be? I do the book of me. I went on Twitter, I went on Twitter because I knew it would get the same reaction as he's getting on mine, and I said what I need to say. I told him to get off my, I believe I put peanut emojis on the, what do you call it,

so I wouldn't get fine. Thinking, of course, I'm like, I'm going to lose my money now. So I said, get off my peanut emojis, and then we had a nice back and forth. Yeah, that's what that was. No, and I think, and by the way, for those of you who's going to watch this show, I used the word Kuhn last year, and it was a big deal. I respected that, and I spoke on it.

What you have to understand is when, when Javelle called, when he said, I don't watch Shackton, a Koon, or whatever the statement was, hey, this is 2013, 2014. team. So what you have to understand is the time period that that was said, it wouldn't be like if you said it today. Like the climate on those things are totally different. And so it wasn't looked at as like a racially sensitive thing. So I want everybody, all our listeners, subscribers to understand that because under no circumstance is the Draymond Green Show trying to get anyone find or in trouble or having to apologize. So we're going to address that right now. But in saying that, you came out and you said,

and now I'm fast forwarding back to when you were to go to State Warriors, you said, yo, this is affecting my career. Like this is, people are thinking about me just by these plays. I go somewhere. It's really affecting my career. And I felt like when you said that, to Shaq's credit, he said I am not going to put Javel McGee on Shaxton the Fool anymore. And to his credit, to my knowledge, he hasn't.

Do you feel like things changed for you once that start happening in a positive light? By far, by far. I mean, also winning two championships back to back didn't hurt at all. Absolutely. But after that, it was taken of, okay, Javelle's a pro, he's serious about the game,

he's locked in, he was a major part of two. a championship run, two of them back to back. And then after that, I got the starting spot with the Lakers after I left you guys. And in my mind, I'm like starting the center, how do you go from being waived three years ago from a team to being a starting center on the Lakers? And I actually had my best year that year with LeBron. I think I average 12 and 8, which is in crazy numbers. But for me, that was the highest numbers I had. That was 30?

It's also, you were averageed 19 minutes a game, 20 minutes a game. So the per 36, which a lot of people judge off of, per 36, those averages are probably like 20 and 14 or something like that. Per 36, they were all start numbers. Absolutely. For sure. So after that year, I re-signed with the Lakers. And I'm also the starting center. And AD comes to the team.

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Not West Virginia. Absolutely. My third. Big time. Don't flex on me now, chat. I know it's the third. flex on me, big doll. So after your first year here,

which I felt like at that time, DeAndre Jordan's still very prominent in the lead, arguably at that time, not really arguably, the best lobster in the league at that time. You solidify yourself as arguably the best live threat in the league. To this day, I always tell people, best lap threat I ever play with.

You leave your body. you just throw it up anywhere. And see, one thing that I don't think people understand is when I say best live threat, it's actually you and Andre Goddala. But when I say best live threat, it was that I could throw it up there. And if you can't dunk it, see, most guys, you throw a lot to it. And if they can't dunk it, they miss it, the ball go out of bounds. If you can't dunk it, you'll just grab the ball and come back down.

And so you solidify yourself as arguably the best live threat. lead, after year one with the Warriors, you had offers to go elsewhere for a little more money. Yeah. What made you say, no, I'm not taking that. I'm going to come back to the Warriors for a second year and take a minimum again? Taste in that championship, man, seeing what it took game one to game 82 to every game in the playoffs of what it took, the brotherhood that I felt, the energy, the way. the Warriors organization treats their players.

I had been to three, four teams, and the Warriors, by far, still to this day, treat their players the best out of anybody. Just one aspect of the way that the Warriors does, dinners on the road. I still haven't seen that. I've been on four teams after that, I believe. We appreciate you, Joe, Peter.

Appreciate those dinners. For sure. Just the, just the, the ads. aspect of that, being able to congregate with your teammates, not only your teammates, but your teammates, friends and family, and not worrying about the bill, just it. Order whatever you want, we're all just going to congregate a fellowship and really enjoy. And that was one aspect. I'm like, I've got to do this again.

Like a million more ain't going to do it for me. I need to do this again. And it worked out. You finished with the Warriors, went two championships. you didn't leave, go to the Lakers second year, you win a second championship. But while in L.A., more things happen for you. Number one, I feel like you and that Lakers team

were the first guys to really learn how to, like, monetize social media from an NBA perspective. Like pre-game walking in, lifts, you name it. it's like all of a sudden you guys were producing content. For sure, for sure. What was driving that? Who was driving that?

How did you guys kind of fall into that? Like, what was the driving force in that? I've always had a eye for, I wanted to go to film school when I came out of college. I mean, when I came out of high school. I wanted to go to USC, but I couldn't go to USC because they wanted to red shirt me.

I wanted to go there for film school, but I understood I'm here for basketball. So I was like, I got to go somewhere. where I can play right away, so I'm listening to Nevada. So when I went to the Lakers, that's Hollywood. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's Hollywood.

The opportunities you get playing, just playing for the Lakers. I don't care if you're on the bench. Just the opportunity of playing for Lakers at a good season or bad season are amazing. And then I started this thing where I had, who did I have, had Gunner Peterson as my weightlifting coach the first year. The thing about Gunner is Gunner is a celebrity trainer. Yes, he is. So content is Gunner's thing.

Gunner loves content. Like, he loves it. So I would film every lift that I would do. And I was lifting every day. So I had content every day of 365 days of lifting on my page. So you would see a workout every day, every day, every day. And in the process of filming those things, I actually had to do those workouts. So I'm performing at an elite level also, and I'm getting that work in, but I'm also getting the content aspect of it.

And at the same time, other GMs are seeing these workouts, too. They're going on my Instagram seeing this. Other teams are seeing this. Coaches are seeing this and really seeing how locked in I really am and have been. I just never really put it out to the public. So when I got to LA, I made sure I got a, I got a, I got a. what is it called, content team. I had a content team,

and I made sure that I was putting out gyms as much as possible. I was watching it at the time, and I'm like, man, like you, Brian, coos, like, you name it, guys were literally producing content. And, like, you see a lot of that now in the NBA, but I don't think people realize how, like, how much of a difference three, four years can make. You know what I'm saying?

Like, yeah, you see a lot of it now three, four years later, but four years ago. It wasn't like that. No. And also kind of frowned upon. You had to, that was just about to say, you had to post stuff and be like, did we win this game?

Like, you had to really think about that. And it was even worse back, like, my rookie year, I used to post stuff on YouTube. But it was before YouTube was actually YouTube. I don't even think you could monetize YouTube. And I just liked content. And coaches, not coaches, but GMs and the upper staff would tell me, like, you need to focus on basketball. There's other things.

You don't need to be worrying about that content stuff and Twitter and all that stuff before my time, by far. And the second year, I got the opportunity of going to the bubble when we won the championship. And I was the vlogger. I blogged every moment in the bubble. And people loved it. They loved every moment of me and Matisse Stibel were the two guys who were blogging. But they got knocked out of the playoffs. I've logged all the way to the championship.

Another flex. Don't miss it. Don't miss the flex. Something like, nothing's too crazy. I blogged all the way to the championship to us. Went into the in-lockroom celebration. I'm giving you content. You will never see.

You won't see that until the 30-for-30 comes up. I was going to worry about. In 30 years. You see what I'm saying? So you can go back and watch that now. And just think about that. 30 years from now, you'll be able to go back and watch that. And understand what mindset's Brown was in, AD was in, I was in.

You can see the different relationships. It's a crazy concept. And I figured that out early. The funny part is it was right before I was packing. I had packed all my stuff up. I called my content guy. I'm like, should I bring my blog cam with me? He was like, you might as well

just film the process. I was like, all right, cool, I'm going to do that. And I filmed from me getting out the car, kissing my girl and my daughter, goodbye, getting on the plane, and going into the bubble. I filmed from that day into the championship. And it was epic.

It was epic. That's incredible, man. By the way, you should definitely do, like, like use that, put you something together, man. And it ain't got to be now. Right. As you know, you keep that content forever. But that's gold.

Like, because, like, right now, you know, people forget. It's been three, four years. People forget. But in 10 years, people are going to be like, oh, you remember when this happened and that happened and it led to this. And you got some gold on your hands. But. Sure.

And speaking to L.A., you go to L.A., also some other things started to take place for you. You have been into music. You've been into music for years. making beats, making songs. You go to L.A., you win a Grammy. I'm Grammy nominated. Okay, you get nominated for a Grammy.

Yeah. Like, talk about that. Active basketball player, and I say active, active in the highest way, like winning championships and yet being nominated for Grammys. Like, talk about that experience. Tell us the song, like, how it came about.

And also, and then how you originally got into making beats and doing different things with the music. Yeah. So originally I got into music. Like German said, I'm a tech guy. Like you said, I'm a big tech guy. So once I figured out, I've seen online or something that you can make music through your computer, I was like, wait, wait, you don't need a whole mix board and all this crazy machine that you see.

You know, the old videos on YouTube on Kanye making beats and he runs over here and makes another beat. I'm just like, I can't afford to get all that stuff. But as soon as I found out, I think there was a college action. I bought maybe a $600 a laptop. I downloaded an FL studio and I made some beats. And then me and my roommate, we made me like an album. I hope that never comes out. I hope that no one ever finds that.

We had a MySpace with our album cover on it and six songs on. It was crazy. But I was just making beats and it was just something I was interested in. It was just another passion of mine. So then when I got to the NBA, I had a little bread on me. I only got me an IMAQ. The first thing I downloaded an IMAQ is Logic Pro, which is a beat making a program.

So I download that. So I'm working on that. I have been working on it for at least 10 years making beats, but nothing crazy. I just didn't have to feel for it yet just because I didn't really know the ends and outs of how it really works. I used to think you just use the stock beats. I didn't realize you have to meet other producers and other producers. and other producers that give you drums and different sounds to really enhance your producing.

Once I got to go in the state, actually, I was, I believe I was playing eight minutes of game. So I had a little bit more time than guys like you who were playing 25, 30 minutes a game and like that. So I was like, okay, I'm going to get this basketball done. But I got a lot of free time. Let me think of different aspects of how I can generate my passion and what I'm really into. So then I started working with guys around the Oakland area, just making music. I'm in the studio with I Am Sue. I met Markey Basie, a lot of people in the Bay that I'm locked in with.

And the energy, it was just amazing. I'm making songs. I'm producing songs. It was just that vibe. I carried that over, that same energy over into L.A. So when I got to L.A., I was in studios. I was meeting A&Rs. I was meeting everybody trying to meet as many people as possible

while I was in LA to take advantage of that aspect of playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. And in the process, I met this amazing songwriter named Poo Bear. And he's Justin Bieber's main songwriter. I had met Poober probably four summers before. And I had met him in the summer because I was staying in L.A. in the summer. and I paid them $13,000 to write two songs for me. Never used neither one of those songs. Never used neither one of them.

But I kept the relationship and we were still cool, blah, blah, blah. So when I got to L.A., he's like, pull up to the studio. I'm like, all right, here I come. I come to the studio. We're getting the studio. I'm playing in some samples playing some of my beats. He hears one of my beats and he tells me, take the drums off. Let me just hear that melody.

and I'm playing that melody and he's like, all right, load this up so we loaded into Pro Tools and he just starts writing the song like we collide. He's like, should I say this? Should I say that? Like, yeah, say that, say that. And we damn it right.

We write the verse, the chorus, and the second verse. And that's it. That's all I heard of it. Wasn't no drums on it, wasn't anything on it. And at the time, it wasn't like, hey, come to the studio so you can make a song for Justin Lieber.

No. It was just coming to the studio. So we came to, so I came and I did that. We made that. We made one song. It's only song we made. Then it was over. It was like, all right, cool. Appreciate it, bro. Cool vibe. Cool session. And that's usually how producing work. People don't understand. People think producing is just, hey, give a beat to an artist. He uses it and now you're platinum. No. Being a producer is hard work. You have to be in the studio when these artists want to be in the studio. And you have to have the type of beats that that artist wants to listen or rap or sing to. when they feel like it.

So it's three in the morning like, all right, I don't feel like doing trap anymore. I want to do an R&B record. Got any? Let me put up this laptop. All right, here goes some beats.

And it's not, oh, I got one beat, here you go. It's, you got 20 of them I can listen to. Like, like,

you want me to give you 20 so you can pick one. Like, it's hard work. It is not easy. People think it's just, oh, you're stars,

whatever, and just let you know, it's not like that. So, so after that, I get the, what part of my own right now? You are on, y'all had, y'all wrote the, and y'all wrote the song. Okay, okay.

So we wrote the melody. We wrote the song. We never heard of it again. It was just the melody. We wrote the song and it was great. So about two, I don't know, maybe two, three, four months later, my house had got broken into. And then Pool Bear's house had got broken into, too. So he called me.

He calls me. He's like, hey, I heard your house get broken into. Can you give me some details? I'm trying to figure out who robbed my house also. So we're just talking about that. And at the end of the combo, he's like, man, I'm sorry to hear that, blah, blah, blah. He's like, oh, yeah, you made the album. I'm just like, what, like, what are you talking about?

What album? We didn't talk about any albums or anything. He's like, you made the Justin Bieber album. I was like, well, that's a great way to end this conversation. Like, damn, like, that's fire. Like, amazing. I made a Justin Bieber album. Like, and the song on the album is, it's,

on his changes album, which got nominated for a Grammy. And the way that Grammy nominations work is if an album is nominated for a Grammy, the producers on that album are nominated for a Grammy, the writers on that album, the Grammy for Grammy, and the Stingers on that album are nominated for a Grammy. So that's in turn how I was nominated for a Grammy for being a producer on a Justin Bieber album.

That's insane. That's like, that's nuts to be on an adjust and be around that's crazy um so now like like what's going on with the music now um like what can we expect like are you diving more into the music now are you taking a break like where where are you with it now um i'm locked in I'm locked in um I have have I probably got like 20 finished songs right now yeah and I got some I have like five with major artists

but unfortunately some of the major artists are like in legal trouble right now so that's the thing about rap artists like you're like you never know like it might be legal trouble it might be this or that but yeah I got I got a lot of tracks that's just sitting on the shelf right now that I need to put out I definitely lock in and just put them out and just see what the world thinks of them but I'm still locked in the music I got I got my little studio set up over here like everywhere I go I put a studio on my house And before we get out of here, obviously we touch it on the music, but I just want to really get back to basketball before we go.

Our time is almost up. But you with the Dallas Mavericks this year, signed a very nice lucrative contract in the offseason. And the year hasn't quite gone how you would expect it once you signed the contract. Just what's your mindset been like? You know, sometimes you play, sometimes. you don't, kind of like back dealing with some of the stuff that you were dealing with early on in your career. What's your mindset been like just going through this season?

Going through it again is at this age and at this, at my tenure on what I've done in the league, the person I am, the man I've grown into, how I've matured. It's a lot easier. It's a lot easier to, it's a lot easier to. to dive into it and to weave my way through and figure out what I need to do to stay a professional to make sure I'm still here for my team, to make sure that when I do get the opportunity to go in there and do what I do, that I do it to the highest ability. I stay in shape. I'm not a, unfortunately, some people, when they get demoted, I guess you can say,

because I definitely came in here to be the starting center. When they get demoted, they tend become a cancer to a team. And that's never been my, my, my, my, my character. My character is, I'm going to do whatever it takes to win. And personally, of course, I feel like if we want to win, we need me. But at the same time, I respect the coaches. I respect what they have going on and how they want to run the team,

knowing I came into their system. You know what I'm saying? So I respect everybody to say. I don't agree with everybody's decisions. And you don't have to. You live a life to disagree. Living a free country, you can feel how you want to feel. But, yeah, I'm just here being a pro.

When they need me, they'll use me, and I will be efficient in what I do. And that's how I feel about the situation. That's really all I can say about the situation. But, of course, I want to play in the end of it. you don't become who you are and what you've gone through not wanting to play. I definitely respect that.

Honestly, as you know in this league, your opportunity going to come again, whether it's there or sometime in the future, whether it's somewhere else, your opportunity is going to come again. But like I said, before we get out of here, man, what can we expect from Javelle McGee?

How much longer are you playing basketball? And then as soon as you wrap that up, should we expect you full force, full-fledged, into the music business, like, do you want to have your own record label? What can we expect moving forward? So I want to play to the 20th. I want to play to my 20th year. Jesus Christ, you better to me, my brother.

Oh, you better than me. I love a game, man. I love the game. It's so fun, man. It's so fun. It's still as fun as it was when I was a kid. Just basketball is such an amazing game. It's just a camaraderie.

Just going in there and banding together with your brothers to fight another band of brothers. It's just something I was born to do, and I love it. Right now, I'm signing to my 17th year, so hopefully I can extend somewhere for another three years and just keep the train rolling. And on the music aspect, man, I got so many things I want to do with music when I actually have time. Like I said, it's a real job. It's not something you can dabble in, put a toe in. and I have the utmost respect for artists. So much respect.

I want to do, I want, I want to test my hand at the A&R at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, at the, because I have a beautiful ear for music. I know how to pick an artist. There's a lot of artists that are popular now that I was listening to when before they were popular and before they, they, they had those platinum hits. And I was just like, dang, if I was a, if I was a, I could have signed that artist. I could, that type of energy. So that, that's my. ultimate goal when it comes to the music game, of course, to keep producing music. But definitely A&R is something that I'm extremely passionate about.

That's great, my brother. I appreciate you coming on the show just to hear your journey. What I just learned about the music industry. You know, as you know, I have friends in the music industry. And for me, it's just always a business that I'm continuing to learn. It's a hell of a business. as a fan of music, like to learn and understand the business side of it more and more,

I feel like it's done something for my ear. I feel like it's done something for my appreciation. I feel like it's done something for my respect for producers, for artists. I always say that about basketball, like basketball fans. Like, if you actually understood the business, like if you took the time to actually learn the business, business, your outlook on it would be totally different. You know, like, you'll see certain things going on.

You better understand them. Like, you'll better understand guys' rotations. All of a sudden, this guy is a plan because he's on the contract year and the team want to lower his number. They can get away with it. Like, just all the different things. And I just had the opportunity to learn some of that, especially on the music side in this interview.

I can't thank you enough, brother. wish you the best. I wish you the best this year as well. I know like, like you said, they want to win. You got to play. And so I know as it come down to it, you'll play. And I appreciate you, man. Dremont Green Show, brother. Can't thank you enough. Congrats. All love, bro.