Tracy McGrady Tries To End Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird Debate With A Diplomatic Answer

Before Michael Jordan claimed the title of the best player in the NBA, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson fought for it throughout the 1980s. The two players split fans into two groups, as some pledged their allegiance to the Celtics superstar, while others swore by the Lakers icon. Many still can’t decide who the better player was and Tracy McGrady is among them.

The Hall of Famer runs a Q-and-A series on his Instagram account, where he gives his takes on some of the most hotly debated basketball topics. the Hall of Famer. When answering the question, “Magic or Bird?”, the two-time scoring champion opted for diplomacy.

McGrady claimed that Bird was the better scorer and Johnson was a superior facilitator and leader. However, neither was a significantly better player than the other. He said,

“It’s tough because one is a power forward/small forward and the other one is a point guard. So I don’t know, both of them were great freaking players.”

While Celtics fans will always pick Bird and Lakers faithful will claim Magic was better, for neutrals like McGrady, picking one of the two is an understandably arduous chore. Both had fundamentally different playing styles but won almost every accolade they could during their stellar careers.

It eventually comes down to preference. But a basketball savant, like McGrady, cannot pick one with utmost certainty. Irrespective of what camp a fan falls in, nobody can deny that the NBA exists today due to Bird and Johnson’s heated rivalry in the 1980s.

The duo’s insatiable desire to beat the other made for great television and brought in droves of new fans. For years, they bought into the hatred and considered each other enemies. However, their opinions changed after shooting a commercial together.

Magic and Bird went from foes to friends

Before Nike shot to the top of the sneaker world in the mid-1980s, Converse dominated the basketball market. Almost every NBA superstar, including Bird and Johnson, had an endorsement deal with the brand.

In 1985, Nike released the Air Jordan 1s, which would help them become the leading sneaker brand in the basketball market. That same year, Converse, unaware that they were set to be usurped, shot a commercial with the two best players in the NBA that inadvertently helped them become friends.

Detailing what went down, Johnson said on the ‘Dan Patrick Show,’

“In the early beginning, we hated each other. We had to because he ended up on the Celtics, and I ended up on the Lakers… And then we shot the commercial (in 1985), at his house in French Lick, Indiana. That’s when we became friends. That’s when we finally said, ‘We’re more alike than we are different.'”

Magic revealed that Bird’s mother, Georgia, told him he was her favorite player, which squashed the beef between the two superstars. Soon after this meeting, Nike ended Converse’s dominance in the sneaker market and Jordan ended Bird and Johnson’s reign as the best players in the league.

While that commercial didn’t do much to help the brand maintain its foothold, it forged a friendship that has lasted nearly four decades.