Los Angeles Lakers center JaVale McGee had one of the most memorable plays of the preseason during the Lakers 126-93 win over the Golden State Warriors. In the third quarter, McGee got his leg tangled up with Warriors forward Alfonzo McKinnie on the offensive end and then limped under the basket and out-of-bounds — suffering what appeared to be a somewhat serious injury.
Moments later, however, JaVale sprinted back into action and received a pass from Anthony Davis for a wide-open dunk. At first glance — and maybe even second and third — it looked like he may have faked the injury to get open during a genius burst of offensive deception. But according to JaVale — who laughed as he described the play — he really did bump his knee and just willed himself through the pain to get the bucket.
“I hit my knee, I really hit my knee,” McGee said. “It hurt. But I went out of bounds and I saw Draymond guarding A.D. And I was like, forget the pain I’m going to get these buckets. So I just ran back in to get a dunk. But I really did bump my knee…I didn’t fake it.”
After winning back-to-back NBA championships as a member of the Warriors, McGee averaged 12 points and 7.5 rebounds during 75 games with the Lakers last year. Throughout the preseason, he has continued to be solid alongside LeBron James and company while averaging 9.6 points and 7.4 rebounds in 17 minutes per night. If he can put up close to a double-double in 20-25 minutes during the regular season he could end up being a solid contributor of the championship-contender — even if he’s not tricking his defender into thinking he’s hurt to get buckets.
