JaVale McGee: 3-Time Champ and Full-Time Dad

Whistle, a sports and entertainment media company, has a new series “Double Duty” on their YouTube page. The show is all about the balance of athletics and parenting.

One episode features “Three-Time” aka current Phoenix Suns center JaVale McGee.

He broke down his childhood and how he learned the ropes from his mom, Pamela McGee, a pioneer for women’s hoops.

Pamela played most of her career overseas, took a break when she was pregnant with JaVale before returning with him in a stroller at the end of the bench for her games. I really enjoy that image, which shines light on how parents will do anything for their children.

She was drafted with the second pick in the 1997 WNBA Draft, the first draft of the WNBA, at 34 years of age. That right there shows how good she was. Her accolades would need a lot of space but we will just say they include a WNBA title and that she and JaVale are the first mother and son to be gold medalists.

JaVale talked about how much she helped him in his basketball journey to get him to where she felt he could be and that she coached him during his freshman and sophomore years in high school.

He shared that he believes the problem with a lot of kids is that they don’t have anybody to at least lead them and to tell them “this way, not that way”.

Now, he is focused on passing on the family legacy to his daughter, Genevieve, who was born in his “9^th or 10^th” year in the NBA.

He talked about how he has to be both the nice guy and bad guy for an extremely girly but very competitive 4 year old, who is both skilled and athletic with a bright future ahead of her.

“Once you have a child, it’s like you’re working for the legacy of your family now. It’s extremely important to lock in and focus on what the important things are. … Life is gonna be a rollercoaster for you. You’ve gotta get over it at the end of the day and move on to the next thing.”

The whole show was a good story and will warm your heart. Take a look.