Report: Sacramento Kings are interested in signing three-time NBA champion JaVale McGee

The Kings might be on the verge of bringing in yet another big man to compete for the backup center spot as they look to shore up an area of weakness.

Sources told Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report the Kings are interested in signing three-time NBA champion JaVale McGee when he clears waivers. McGee, a 15-year NBA veteran, was waived by the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.

Other teams will have 48 hours to claim McGee off waivers. If more than one team claims him during the two-day window, the team with the lowest win percentage in 2022-23 will have first priority. If McGee isn’t claimed on waivers, he will be free to sign a free-agent contract with any team.

McGee would presumably come to training camp in Sacramento with an opportunity to compete for a backup role behind All-NBA center Domantas Sabonis. The Kings will have no shortage of big bodies with Alex Len, Nerlens Noel, Neemias Queta and Skal Labissiere competing for that role along with Trey Lyles, who was effective as a small-ball center last season.

McGee, 35, is 7 feet tall and 270 pounds. He has posted career averages of 7.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 16.6 minutes per game since coming out of Nevada as the 18^th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft.

McGee spent four seasons with the Washington Wizards and four seasons with the Denver Nuggets before bouncing around the league over the past several years. He had a series of one-year, two-year and briefer stints with the Philadelphia 76ers, Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Nuggets and Phoenix Suns.

McGee was a member of NBA championship teams with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018 and the Lakers in 2020. He averaged just 4.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 42 games for the Mavericks last season, but he isn’t far removed from his 2021-22 season in Phoenix, where he averaged 9.2 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 74 games for the Suns.