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The debate over whether the Denver Nuggets should make retaining the services of JaVale McGee a priority is already raging. Our view: Hell yes, since he’s highly entertaining on court whether he’s putting up big numbers or making a moron of himself. And after the whistle blows, he’s pretty damn hilarious, too, as witnessed by his latest gambit — convincing NBA Nation that he adopted a platypus. Or two.
The story began with a tweet from McGee’s Twitter account, which goes out under the name “Pierre McGee,” who’s described as “Alter Ego 4th year in NBA for the Denver Nuggets Son, Brother, Nephew, and that monkey on yo back!”
Don’t trip over that, folks, because things get weirder from there. Here’s tweet number one:
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Just copped a pet platypus …. #swag— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 14, 2012
Moments later, McGee sent out the following photo:
The thought of McGee with a platypus was twisted enough to prompt a number of media organizations, including WUSA, to report that he’d actually purchased one of the critters. And he played along for a while, as this tweet indicates:
Uh ok didn’t know that Peter an Paul ( my pet platypus’) were poisonous….. If ur hand turns Barney purple that’s not good right?— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 15, 2012
Shortly thereafter, though, he flipped the script in this series of messages:
Jokes up!!!!!!!— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 15, 2012
I can believe I fooled fans into believing I bought some platypus’ but reporters?
— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 15, 2012advertisementadvertisement
Media: u guys didn’t check ur sources before writing the story? All u had to do is go to google images…Smh…Sbn…Some others n dc. SHAME— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 15, 2012
Since the story originated from McGee himself, journalists definitely should have done their due diligence. After all, he’s not exactly the definition of a reliable source. But at least CBS4’s Vic Lombardi demonstrated some good humor in this reply:
As for McGee, he followed up this report with another scoop:
I just seen the prettiest girl with a wooden leg and a real foot!— Pierre McGee (@JaValeMcGee34) May 15, 2012
Call Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, stat.
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More from our Sports archive: “JaVale McGee memes: Is he new Nuggets star or complete idiot?“
