When the Phoenix Suns signed McGee on a one-year, $5 million contract in the offseason this year, they probably wouldn't have imagined that the 33-year-old veteran would have played a more efficient offensive and defensive statistic than Ayton. Since being traded to the Cavaliers by the Lakers in the summer of 20, McGee has changed two teams in just one year last season, but whether it is the Cavaliers or the Nuggets, McGee has played a very efficient performance, so that this summer, the US men's basketball team in the absence of manpower in the box, actually put him into the 12-man list, with the national team to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, and this is also the first time mcGee has put on the national team jersey in this 14-year career.
After winning the Olympic gold medal with the U.S. men's basketball team, McGee also received an invitation from the dark horse team Suns, who just reached the finals last season, and in order to find a competent substitute for Ayton, McGee was also matched by general manager James Jones. But I didn't think that such a "unintentional willow shading" move also made McKee an indispensable thigh figure for the sun at present. In the opening game against the old club Nuggets, McGee scored 6 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block in only 15 minutes of playing time, which was thought to be a flash in the pan, but it turned out to be a microcosm of McGee's efficient performance this season. In the following games, McGee played nearly double-doubles in basically only 15 minutes or so, and in place of Ayton, who was injured at the time, as the starter, McGee once exploded the best performance of the season with 21 points and 15 rebounds.
So far, McGee has averaged 10.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in just 16 minutes of playing time, and has a 65.9% shooting percentage of the fourth in the league. With a good influence on the defensive end, coupled with paul's cake master on the offensive end, McGee can be said to have eaten the pie every game. According to relevant statistics, if calculated according to the data per 36 minutes, McGee can average 24.5 points, 16.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.8 blocks per game this season, shooting 65.9% from the field, while Ayton has only 19.5 points and 13.2 rebounds, and the shooting rate of 61.7% is also much inferior to McGee.
You know that before the start of this season, the Suns had a fight with Ayton on the issue of the maximum salary, even now the team has not reached an early contract extension with him, and after only 5 million veteran McGee played such a good and efficient performance, the Sun management may make up its mind, let alone send a maximum salary contract for Ayton, if Ayton really has no chance to stay in Phoenix, McGee is undoubtedly the "culprit".