The Warriors have contacted Turner Sports about Shaquille O’Neal’s ongoing coverage of center JaVale McGee, a source confirmed to The Chronicle.
The news was first reported by ESPN.
Golden State reached out to Turner officials to voice concerns that McGee’s numerous appearances on “Shaqtin’ a Fool,” TNT’s bloopers segment on “Inside the NBA,” is unnecessarily hurting McGee’s reputation.
This comes after O’Neal and McGee engaged in a heated Twitter feud Thursday night. Long known for showing highlights of McGee’s absentminded follies on the court, TNT aired a “Doctor Strange” segment Thursday that focused exclusively on McGee bloopers.
That prompted McGee to tweet at O’Neal, telling him in explicit language to stop talking about him. At one point, O’Neal tweeted that McGee “will only be remembered” for “Shaqtin’ a Fool.”
Though McGee wasn’t available after practice Friday, head coach Steve Kerr and forward Kevin Durant defended McGee.
“JaVale has been fantastic for us as a player, as a teammate, fantastic guy,” Kerr said. “I don’t blame him for being frustrated. Shaq has been picking on him for years and years and years, and JaVale, rightfully so, is frustrated. It never ends.
“It’s one thing to have a little fun, but I think he can go a little over the top. You think about JaVale’s career where you’re in this position where someone on national TV is making fun of you night after night. It’s not the greatest thing for your reputation. I can tell you that I had a preconceived notion of JaVale before I got here that turned out to be false.”
Said Durant: “JaVale works extremely hard, has come in here and done extremely well as a player. He only wants to be respected like anybody else. I understand that Shaq works for a company that wants him to do that type of stuff, make fun of players. It’s cool, it’s funny. But when you keep doing it time and time and time again, and a guy actually disagrees with you and you threaten him … I didn’t know cops could threaten civilians like that. It’s definitely childish.”
O’Neal later tweeted at Durant, saying that McGee “is still a bum.”
McGee is enjoying a career renaissance with the Warriors. A non-guaranteed training camp invitee, he has emerged as a key part of the rotation, averaging 6.1 points and three rebounds per game. McGee’s only noteworthy blooper this season came in a Dec. 3 win over Phoenix, when he nearly inbounded the ball for the Suns.
Briefly:
Stephen Curry took practice off Friday to rest. … Despite wearing a wrap around his bruised left pinkie, Durant participated in most of practice. … General manager Bob Myers said the team is monitoring the buyout market, but is unlikely to add another big man.
Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
