Numerous players in the league grew up watching former NBA Champions, All-Stars, and future Hall of Famers. Many current players tried to model their game after the player they looked up to. Houston Rockets legend Tracy McGrady recently talked about players like Paul George and Kevin Durant taking some tricks out of his bag. And the Slim Reaper went on to give T-Mac his flowers.
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Tracy McGrady recently went to Instagram to talk about players who have modeled their game after him. McGrady named Kevin Durant and Paul George as the two players on whom he has seen some of his game reflect.
“I get asked, ‘Who in today’s game plays the most like you?’ Kevin Durant and Paul George have similarities. I could honestly sit here and say, I had an impact on them as basketball players. Because I was before them, you could tell that they watched and studied the game and implemented some of my moves.”
Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant agreed with McGrady’s opinions as he KD commented, “Nothing but facts.”
Even former NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony dropped a comment on T-Mac’s post.
“Giving you your champ! You was DIFFERENT.”
When looking at similarities between their games, one could easily say that there are shades of McGrady in both KD and PG13’s game. One of the biggest giveaways is the ‘one dribble pull-up’ jumper that Mac had perfected.
He had once labeled this move as unstoppable and Durant has often been seen pulling that off with ease. Apart from shooting, Tracy McGrady was one lethal dunking machine as well. That is something Paul George embedded into his game, along with a few post moves both players have in their bag now.
All three players were taller than their defenders at the positions they played at. And when McGrady exploited that size mismatch, it wasn’t difficult to see PG-13 and KD do the same to be a dynamic scorer in the league.
Paul George learnings from T-Mac and Kobe face-off
Paul George was a star for Indiana as soon as he came into the league. He rose to stardom and had his fair share of injuries. You could say that Paul George may have had one of the most gruesome injuries in the league.
However, the 6’9 forward came back stronger than ever. He may have leaned on being a high-flyer like T-Mac before his injury but later went on to model his mid-range game after him and Kobe Bryant as well.
“T-Mac was busting Kobe’s a**. I won’t sugarcoat that one. T-Mac was on Kobe that day. But what I took away from that game was Kob was matching up with T-Mac, but T-Mac wasn’t matching up with Kob.”
Being the team’s best player on offense wasn’t enough for PG as he wanted to have the same impact on the defensive end of the floor as well. That is where he took some inspiration from The Black Mamba and thanks to all their former players, PG has been one of the big names in the league along with being a multiple-time All-Star.
