Gilbert Arenas Defends Tracy McGrady, Calls Out Fans for Taking His Kobe Bryant Comments Out of Context

One of the sillier stories that has been ongoing this NBA offseason is the backlash Tracy McGrady has received for suggesting a “what-if” about his career. The Hall of Famer stated during an appearance on First Take that if he had played alongside Shaquille O’Neal during the early 2000s, he most likely would have an NBA championship. But in the process, he ended up inadvertently taking a dig at Kobe Bryant — or at least, that’s what most people thought.

T-Mac mentioned that he would have ended up being the main number two option at the Los Angeles Lakers instead of Bryant. And many assumed that he was calling himself better than the “Black Mamba”, which caused an uproar.

McGrady had to clarify his comments and insisted he would never speak ill of the late, great legend, since they were extremely close. He also reiterated that had he played alongside Shaq, there would be a ring on his finger, but the fact that he doesn’t shouldn’t diminish his career in any way. Gilbert Arenas has now come out to defend the former Houston Rockets star.

Arenas was on that edition of First Take when T-Mac made his Kobe remark and decided to shut down haters who were still giving him lip. “Why y’all still hating on T-Mac like he really said something? Y’all gotta stop this sh**. Let it go,” he said on the latest edition of his Gil’s Arena live stream.

As the chat continued to pop off, Arenas stood there in silence and pushed back against anyone who still believed T-Mac was taking shots at the Mamba. “I could see if he said he was better, or that he could’ve done the same thing Kobe did. But he didn’t say none of that, man.”

“Y’all gotta stop taking stuff out of context. Y’all letting this editing fool y’all. ‘He was talking nonsense.’ Y’all don’t even know what he was talking about,” he added. Gil gets a lot of flak for his unhinged takes, but seldom has a statement been more true. And it’s not just about basketball either. Too many people take sound bites or out-of-context quotes and assume they’re true. It’s a sad world we live in.

Arenas later stated that the initial conversation between them was about ring culture. “We was talking about rings. Ring culture and how it shouldn’t dictate your career. That’s what we were talking about. He was basically saying how does his career change if he won a ring with Shaquille O’Neal. He’s basically saying it shouldn’t change his career.”

It really is that simple. McGrady had one of basketball’s great careers. Just because he didn’t get the honor of winning in a team sport doesn’t mean his accomplishments as a player should be overlooked. More people remember his 13 points in 37 seconds against the San Antonio Spurs than they do certain NBA champions.

“T-Mac and Kobe was like this man [holds hands together]. He wasn’t being disrespectful,” added Arenas, who once again drove home the point that McGrady loved Bryant. There’s almost a hint of sadness in Gil’s voice while discussing it. He knows that Kobe is no longer here, and that if he was, this wouldn’t even be a topic of discussion in today’s NBA.

Stories like this usually pick up steam during the offseason, when haters have nothing better to do than put one out-of-context sentence under a microscope. Hopefully, once the 2025–26 season tips off, the conversation shifts back to talking purely about ball.

About the author

Joseph Galizia

Joseph is a Las Vegas based actor and circus performer. For the last seven years he's had the pleasure of covering sports for multiple outlets, including the Lifestyles section of Sports Illustrated. In that time, he's conducted over 50 interviews with athletes, filmmakers, and company founders to further cement his footprint in the journalism world. He's excited to bring that skillset to the SportsRush, where he'll be covering the NBA news cycle.

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