“I’m a basketball player. So my Instagram is going to be me playing basketball.”
-JaVale McGee on his Instagram content strategy pic.twitter.com/dvYZxz6wqd
— KNBR (@KNBR) September 22, 2017
OAKLAND–JaVale McGee probably anticipated talking more about the Warriors’ offensive or defensive strategies.
Instead, at Golden State’s media day on Friday, McGee ended up talking about his social media strategy.
The summer after McGee flourished with the Warriors en route to his first NBA title, the 7-foot center took his Instagram game to the next level, too. McGee’s Instagram account grew in popularity, in large part due to his willingness to show off the work he’s made on polishing his three-point shot.
“I’m a basketball player so my Instagram is going to be me playing basketball because that’s the content that people on Instagram want to see,” McGee said. “I’ve been working on 3’s and stuff, but like years ago, I didn’t realize that when you play basketball, you have to post that you play basketball and workout online for people to believe that you play basketball and work out online. So I figured that out this summer so I just started to over-saturate my Instagram this summer and it worked and people love it so I’m just going to keep doing that.”
McGee knows his role isn’t going to change much this season, but on Friday, he did admit he wanted to make himself more versatile this offseason and at least give defenses a reason to guard him out on the perimeter.
“No I definitely want to start shooting more 3’s but I’m not going to say, ‘Hey Steve, you think that I could..’ no. I’m going to do what I go do,” McGee said.
At various points this offseason, it was unclear whether Golden State would be able to resign McGee or whether he would consider pursuing a larger contract to play elsewhere. Eventually, though, he said the opportunity to play for a franchise that helped him to a title and in a region that’s grown to love him was too much to pass up.
“The Bay Area loves me and I love the Bay Area,” McGee said. “Everything about it is great. The funny part is, I was in Dallas before here when I started growing my rat tail and people were telling me, that’s a thing that San Francisco people do. So it was just a crazy coincidence.”