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“If I’m competing with Kobe Bryant every night then I belong here”: Tracy McGrady details how he knew he made it to the NBA during his Orlando Magic day battles with the Lakers legend

Ashish Priyadarshi
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Tracy McGrady

Tracy McGrady entered the league as a Toronto Raptor, but he said that he didn’t really feel like he made it to the NBA till he was going head to head with Kobe Bryant on the Magic.

The Hall of Famer had some of the greatest offensive seasons in NBA history as a member of several different teams. McGrady is mostly remembered for his 13 points in 33 seconds moment against the San Antonio Spurs in perhaps the craziest NBA comeback you’ve ever seen.

However, the former guard/forward had many more of those moments too. He used to be a high flier, running up crazy dunks alongside Vince Carter on the Raptors, and he was a solid defensive player as well. McGrady recently sat down with Draymond Green to discuss what it was like when he played and when he felt like he really belonged in the NBA.

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Tracy McGrady knew he made it when he was going head-to-head with Kobe Bryant

During the 2000s, there was one name in basketball that reigned above all: Kobe Bryant. Sure, he wasn’t winning championships throughout the 2000’s (he didn’t win one until 2009 after Shaq left the Lakers), but if you thought of the NBA, you thought of Kobe.

T-Mac was well aware of the Kobe love at the time, and he knew that if he really wanted to be a force to be reckoned with in the league, he’d have to hold his own against ‘The Black Mamba.’ And that’s exactly what he did. In an interview once, Kobe Bryant was asked who the toughest player he ever had to guard in his career was, and he calmly answered that it was McGrady.

In McGrady’s sit down with Draymond, he talked about his battles with Kobe Bryant and also mentioned how he only felt like he belonged in the league when his name was being brought up alongside “That dude. That No. 8 with the fro.”

Kobe vs T-Mac battles were truly legendary to see, and it makes sense why McGrady felt like the bar was set with No. 8 at the time. The two had incredible respect for each other and gave us some incredible basketball to watch over the years.

Also Read: “I would rather play in All-Star game than win the slam-dunk contest against Michael Jordan”: Dominique Wilkins was not pleased with NBA’s ignorance of him for the 1985 All-Star game

About the author

Ashish Priyadarshi

Ashish Priyadarshi

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Ashish Priyadarshi is The SportsRush's content manager and editor. Ashish freelanced for 1 year in the NFL division before taking on an editorial role in the company. He then tacked on managing content while adding on a writing role in the NBA division. Ashish has been closely following the NFL and NBA since the 2012 season when the Patriots lost the Super Bowl and Derrick Rose was at the height of his powers. Since then, Ashish has focused on honing his knowledge for both leagues in, even writing crossover pieces. In his free time, Ashish is an avid basketball player, he loves to watch movies and TV shows, immersing himself in the cinematic world. Ashish studies computer science and data science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and would love to mesh his love for sports with his technical skills.

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