NBA: JaVale McGee officially out for the rest of the season

Denver Nuggets center and Philippine national men's basketball team naturalization candidate JaVale McGee will officially miss the rest of the 2013-14 NBA season after undergoing surgery, the team announced, Thursday (Friday, PHL time).

In a press release on the Nuggets' website, the team said that McGee "underwent surgery..to repair a stress fracture in his left tibia." The 7'0" center suffered the injury early in November of last year.

[Related: McGee out indefinitely with fractured tibia]

“While it’s disappointing that we won’t have JaVale back on the court this season, we’re happy that he can move forward in his recovery,” Nuggets general manager Tim Connelly said.

McGee normed 7.0 points and 3.4 rebounds in just five games this season.

The team acquired Jan Vesely in a trade earlier today to add to their front court.

[Related: Gilas Pilipinas targeting JaVale McGee and former teammate Andray Blatche for naturalization]

Antipolo District 1 representative Roberto Puno recently filed House Bill No. 3784 in an attempt to naturalize McGee of the Gilas Pilipinas squad. This injury though makes it unlikely that said bill will become a priority, as McGee will probably be unable to play in the FIBA World Cup and the Asian Games, due to rehab.  - AMD, GMA News