JaVale McGee not feeling effects of lockout — yet

Although the Drew League has been trying to get Kobe Bryant involved in a possible rematch next month, McGee wasn’t certain that players would be willing to make what happened last Saturday — when players from Los Angeles paid nearly $2,500 for flights and hotels to play for free in a charity game — a regular occurrence during the NBA lockout.

“I don’t think people will,” McGee said, “because I don’t think people want to chance it, playing these games all the time. Especially with no insurance or not getting paid for it. This was free. We actually lost money coming to this game.”

Organizers of Saturday’s game are expected to reimburse the players for travel expenses, but it certainly was a different experience for McGee, who has played regularly in the Drew League but also was paid to participate in an all-star game in the Philippines — where he joined Bryant, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Derrick Rose — and got some YouTube hits for fulfilling a promise to his Twitter followers by planking on the court after driving the length of the court and dunking, then blocking a shot on the other end.

McGee said he hasn’t given consideration to playing overseas should the lockout extend well into the fall. “I really haven’t. I’ve been trying, my agent and everybody, has just been getting little games together for sums of money, like we did in the Philippines.”

McGee isn’t hurting for money, since he is notoriously frugal and had no problem saving money even before the players’ union advised players to get prepared financially for missing out on checks in the 2011-12 season. “I’m good,” McGee said with a smile.