McGee-Whiz: JaVale's All-NBL snub fails sniff test

• ‍JaVale McGee vs Bryce Cotton: NBL26 Performances Tracker‍
• Case Closed: JaVale McGee already the best player in the league‍
• How Bryce Cotton won his sixth MVP award

One of just two players to average a double-double in NBL26, sixth in scoring, second in rebounding, equal first in blocks, and fifth most SuperCoach Beat the Coach points in just 24:55 minutes per game — yet didn’t make an All-NBL Team in 2025-26.

How three-time NBA champion, 900-game NBA veteran and Illawarra Hawks centre JaVale McGee, 38, wasn’t named in the All-NBL First Team is perplexing; the fact that he didn't make the All-NBL Second Team undermines the judges' credibility, even more so than Kendric Davis' reaction to not winning the MVP.

Votes are submitted by head coaches, captains, and former players such as Andrew Gaze, Derek Rucker, and Michael Cedar, and by journalists, including ESPN’s Olgun Uluc and John Casey.

The only caveat is that coaches and captains can’t vote for players on their own teams.

All-NBL First Team

• Bryce Cotton (Adelaide 36ers)
• John Brown III (South East Melbourne Phoenix)
• Kendric Davis (Sydney Kings)
• Kristian Doolittle (Perth Wildcats)
• Nathan Sobey (South East Melbourne Phoenix)

+---------------------+-----+----+------+------+------+------+------+
| Player              | POS | GP | PPG  | RPG  | APG  | FG%  | FT%  |
+---------------------+-----+----+------+------+------+------+------+
| Bryce Cotton        | G   | 32 | 25.7 | 3.6  | 7.6  | 44%  | 90%  |
| Kendric Davis       | G   | 33 | 24.4 | 3.9  | 6.7  | 48%  | 80%  |
| Nathan Sobey        | G   | 32 | 22.0 | 3.9  | 4.7  | 44%  | 78%  |
| Kristian Doolittle  | F   | 33 | 16.6 | 7.4  | 3.6  | 45%  | 83%  |
| John Brown III      | F   | 33 | 10.9 | 6.2  | 2.2  | 48%  | 79%  |
+---------------------+-----+----+------+------+------+------+------+

All-NBL Second Team

• Bryce Hamilton (Tasmania JackJumpers)
• Jack McVeigh (Cairns Taipans)
• Parker Jackson-Cartwright (New Zealand Breakers)
• Xavier Cooks (Sydney Kings)
• Zylan Cheatham (Adelaide 36ers)

+---------------------------+-----+----+------+------+------+------+------+
| Player                    | POS | GP | PPG  | RPG  | APG  | FG%  | FT%  |
+---------------------------+-----+----+------+------+------+------+------+
| Jack McVeigh              | F   | 29 | 21.2 | 6.3  | 4.0  | 50%  | 88%  |
| Bryce Hamilton            | G   | 27 | 18.2 | 4.6  | 3.3  | 47%  | 67%  |
| Parker Jackson-Cartwright | G   | 33 | 17.7 | 4.5  | 7.5  | 45%  | 74%  |
| Xavier Cooks              | F   | 29 | 13.4 | 6.9  | 3.0  | 64%  | 48%  |
| Zylan Cheatham            | F   | 33 | 11.7 |10.2  | 4.0  | 54%  | 76%  |
+---------------------------+-----+----+------+------+------+------+------+

Cheatham was the other double-double player in NBL26 with 11.7 points and a league-best 10.2 rebounds, earning him All-NBL Second Team honours and, clearly, team record has nothing to do with it.

Australian Boomers forward Jack McVeigh made the second team despite the Cairns Taipans (9-24) finishing second last while the Hawks (13-20) finished eighth.

Davis, 26, used the NBL26 Finals launch yesterday (Tuesday, February 23, 2026) as a platform to call for voting transparency. The Sydney Kings scoring guard lost the MVP vote 96-94 to now six-time MVP Bryce Cotton.

“I want to have a crack at everybody. I want to see the votes, if I’m being honest,” he said.

“When you give players votes, it can get tricky … but that’s just my opinion. It can go off who likes who; you can’t control that. But that’s how I feel.

“I missed two votes on first team. Humbly speaking, like come on now. Let’s be honest.

“I want to fix the system. I want everything right. We’ve just got to make it public.

"We want to know the votes, why you felt how you felt, and just have it out there.

“We want to see the people who vote for certain people that you know shouldn’t win it, but you’re just doing it on purpose.

"That’s all I care about."

McGee’s numbers were better than every player except Cotton, Davis and Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

Before the controversy of Davis vs Cotton and the McGee omission, NBL25 Coach of the Year Justin Tatum took aim at the nominations, as Illawarra’s best defender didn’t make the cut for the Damian Martin Trophy for Defensive Player of the Year‍ list.

"One thing that does disturb me is these individual awards that the league gives out,” Tatum declared.

“One thing that concerns me is that I have, if not the most competitive, the best defender in the league, who wasn’t nominated – Wani Swaka Lo Buluk.

“Not taking anything from the other nominees, but any competitor that goes against Wani every night, I know he’s at the top of their list of guys they hate being guarded by.

“To not see Wani’s name on there is very disturbing. I’m not sure what committee adds the names, but Wani played 33 games this year, started all 33, 50-40-90 guy, and his job is to guard the best player on every team.

“To not ever get a Defensive Player of the Year award, or even be nominated this year, is probably a joke to me.

“I don’t get it. I’m not taking anything away from the other nominees, but they’ve got to get it right.

“It doesn’t matter if we’re ranked seventh or eighth – these are individual awards. I feel Wani is one of the best, if not the best, defenders in this league.

“I just wanted to make sure I voiced my concern on that one.”

Side-by-Side: McGee vs Selected Non Guards

Scoring

• McGee – 19.3 PPG
• Doolittle – 16.6
• Cooks – 13.4
• Cheatham – 11.7

McGee was the highest-scoring frontcourt player among all selections.

Rebounding

• McGee – 10.0 RPG
• Cheatham – 10.2
• Doolittle – 7.4
• Cooks – 6.9
• Brown – 6.2
• McVeigh – 6.3

McGee was in the top two in rebounding production.

Rim Protection

• McGee – 1.8 BPG
• Cooks – 1.2
• Cheatham – 0.8
• McVeigh – 0.6
• Brown – 0.2
• Doolittle – 0.1

McGee was clearly the most dominant shot blocker, selected or not.

Efficiency

• McGee – 56% FG
• Cooks – 64%
• Cheatham – 54%
• McVeigh – 50%
• Brown – 48%
• Doolittle – 45%

Elite interior efficiency on strong volume (13.9 FGA).

The Statistical Verdict

On pure production:

• Top scorer among bigs
• Top-two rebounder
• Best rim protector
• Elite efficiency
• 31 games played

McGee’s scoring (19.3) plus 10 rebounds plus 1.8 blocks is traditional All-NBL First Team output.

Why McGee isn’t in either the First Team or Second Team is more a reason to make the voting process public than Davis’ call for MVP transparency.

JaVale McGee's NBL26 Box Scores

+----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+------+------+------+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+------+------+
| G  | PTS | FGM | FGA | FG%  | 3PM  | 3PA  | 3P%  | FTM  | FTA  | OR | DR | REB | AST | TO | STL | BLK | PF | +/-  | EFF  |
+----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+------+------+------+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+------+------+
| 1  | 32  | 15  | 20  | 75.0 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 2    | 2    | 3  | 10 | 13  | 2   | 4  | 2   | 3   | 3  | -2   | 43   |
| 2  | 26  | 12  | 20  | 60.0 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 2    | 7    | 4  | 10 | 14  | 2   | 2  | 4   | 1   | 5  | -1   | 32   |
| 3  | 19  | 6   | 9   | 66.7 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 7    | 10   | 0  | 3  | 3   | 5   | 5  | 0   | 3   | 2  | -29  | 17   |
| 4  | 13  | 5   | 7   | 71.4 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 3    | 8    | 3  | 9  | 12  | 3   | 3  | 1   | 2   | 3  | 27   | 27   |
| 5  | 22  | 8   | 18  | 44.4 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 6    | 10   | 4  | 7  | 11  | 1   | 2  | 0   | 5   | 5  | -27  | 23   |
| 6  | 24  | 11  | 18  | 61.1 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 2    | 4    | 5  | 6  | 11  | 1   | 4  | 3   | 1   | 4  | 1    | 30   |
| 7  | 13  | 6   | 14  | 42.9 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 1    | 2    | 6  | 4  | 10  | 1   | 2  | 0   | 0   | 1  | -42  | 17   |
| 8  | 17  | 8   | 14  | 57.1 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 1    | 1    | 2  | 9  | 11  | 6   | 3  | 1   | 1   | 3  | -6   | 45   |
| 9  | 37  | 13  | 21  | 61.9 | 1    | 1    | 100  | 10   | 11   | 5  | 9  | 14  | 1   | 3  | 2   | 1   | 4  | 14   | 40   |
| 10 | 28  | 12  | 13  | 92.3 | 2    | 2    | 100  | 2    | 3    | 2  | 4  | 6   | 2   | 4  | 0   | 1   | 2  | 17   | 32   |
| 11 | 9   | 4   | 8   | 50.0 | 1    | 1    | 100  | 0    | 0    | 2  | 7  | 9   | 1   | 4  | 1   | 2   | 5  | -27  | 8    |
| 12 | 12  | 4   | 18  | 22.2 | 0    | 2    | 0    | 4    | 5    | 2  | 8  | 10  | 0   | 0  | 1   | 4   | 2  | -12  | 42   |
| 13 | 28  | 10  | 12  | 83.3 | 1    | 2    | 50   | 7    | 11   | 6  | 6  | 12  | 3   | 4  | 1   | 2   | 3  | 7    | 36   |
| 14 | 29  | 14  | 21  | 66.7 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 1    | 2    | 4  | 9  | 13  | 1   | 2  | 2   | 3   | 3  | 2    | 38   |
| 15 | 17  | 6   | 17  | 35.3 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 5    | 6    | 3  | 8  | 11  | 3   | 3  | 0   | 3   | 1  | -11  | 19   |
| 16 | 30  | 13  | 19  | 68.4 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 4    | 4    | 0  | 10 | 10  | 0   | 3  | 2   | 2   | 1  | 16   | 35   |
| 17 | 18  | 7   | 14  | 50.0 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 4    | 4    | 5  | 5  | 10  | 2   | 1  | 1   | 1   | 2  | -14  | 24   |
| 18 | 20  | 7   | 14  | 50.0 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 6    | 8    | 4  | 2  | 6   | 1   | 1  | 0   | 0   | 3  | -11  | 17   |
| 19 | 16  | 7   | 16  | 43.8 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 2    | 2    | 3  | 3  | 6   | 2   | 3  | 0   | 6   | 1  | -13  | 18   |
| 20 | 16  | 7   | 12  | 58.3 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 2    | 2    | 3  | 7  | 10  | 2   | 0  | 0   | 1   | 1  | 10   | 24   |
| 21 | 17  | 5   | 14  | 35.7 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 7    | 7    | 3  | 6  | 9   | 3   | 3  | 0   | 1   | 2  | -13  | 18   |
| 22 | 11  | 4   | 5   | 80.0 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 3    | 4    | 0  | 3  | 3   | 1   | 3  | 0   | 1   | 0  | -1   | 11   |
| 23 | 8   | 4   | 11  | 36.4 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0    | 0    | 7  | 7  | 14  | 2   | 2  | 2   | 1   | 2  | -10  | 18   |
| 24 | 23  | 9   | 10  | 90.0 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 5    | 5    | 2  | 6  | 8   | 1   | 2  | 1   | 2   | 2  | 8    | 32   |
| 25 | 18  | 7   | 8   | 87.5 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 4    | 4    | 1  | 9  | 10  | 1   | 2  | 1   | 0   | 1  | 7    | 27   |
| 26 | 17  | 8   | 12  | 66.7 | 0    | 2    | 0    | 1    | 1    | 2  | 7  | 9   | 4   | 1  | 0   | 2   | 0  | -23  | 27   |
| 27 | 18  | 9   | 16  | 56.3 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 0    | 0    | 2  | 9  | 11  | 3   | 1  | 1   | 2   | 0  | -7   | 27   |
| 28 | 8   | 3   | 13  | 23.1 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 2    | 3    | 5  | 9  | 14  | 4   | 5  | 0   | 2   | 2  | 4    | 12   |
| 29 | 15  | 5   | 9   | 55.6 | 0    | 0    | 0    | 5    | 5    | 3  | 4  | 7   | 1   | 0  | 1   | 0   | 0  | -10  | 20   |
| 30 | 22  | 8   | 12  | 66.7 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 6    | 10   | 3  | 10 | 13  | 4   | 3  | 1   | 2   | 3  | 20   | 31   |
| 31 | 15  | 6   | 16  | 37.5 | 0    | 1    | 0    | 3    | 4    | 5  | 5  | 10  | 2   | 0  | 1   | 2   | 2  | 9    | 19   |
+----+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+------+------+------+----+----+-----+-----+----+-----+-----+----+------+------+

‍

The last word belongs to Jordon Crawford.