As a single mom and WNBA Hall of Famer, Pam McGee has always had two great loves: her son and her sport. From the time son JaVale was quite young, the two have been close, even in the midst of Pam's busy basketball career. "Me and this kid [have] been traveling Europe since he was 3," Pam says. "I put a lot of work in that."
Now that JaVale is grown up and playing professional basketball himself, Pam has watched him transform from a child to an independent adult. As difficult as it is for her to admit, Pam knows she must let her son go. Before basketball season starts up again, mother and son sit down on an episode of their show "Mom's Got Game" for an emotional heart-to-heart about their close-knit relationship and the near future.
"It is very rare that mothers get to see their son metamorphosize into a man," Pam says to JaVale, through tears. "They always tell me, 'You a single woman; you can't raise a man...' Well, I did it. I see one in front of me."
Though the world sees JaVale as a powerful NBA athlete, Pam knows a very different side of him. "Everybody sees you as 'JaVale McGee, the superstar,'" she says. "I know you because you're 'JaVale, my baby.'"
Still, JaVale's success hasn't changed him as a person, his mother says. "You're just a good dude. You've been a good dude without money. You've been a good dude broke, and you've been a good dude rich," she tells JaVale, proudly. "I know I've got to let you go... I just don't know how."