“Vital to My Three Championships”: Shaquille O’Neal Speaks Out About the Recent Disrespect Towards Kobe Bryant

Tracy McGrady was an electrifying talent and a fan-favorite scorer during his prime years in the NBA. While starring for the Orlando Magic and Houston Rockets, T-Mac was ranked among the league’s top shooting guards, second only to Kobe Bryant. But unlike Kobe, who had already won three championships by the time his career peaked, McGrady never captured a title, a missing piece that still lingers over his otherwise stellar legacy.

The seven-time All-Star also had an unusually unlucky career. During his peak with the Magic, his star teammate Grant Hill was frequently sidelined by injuries. A similar fate struck Yao Ming while they played together in Houston. Eventually, though, it was McGrady’s own injuries that derailed his career.

Had McGrady been dealt a luckier hand, he might have won a title or two. The 46-year-old recently suggested that the Los Angeles Lakers still would have three-peated if he had been on the team instead of Kobe. Aware that Shaq was the dominant force during the Lakers’ early-2000s run, McGrady believes he could have easily taken the “passenger” role that Bryant played during that period.

Shaq acknowledged McGrady’s claim during his recent appearance on Off The Record. While The Diesel agreed that the player in the driver’s seat justifiably gets most of the credit during a championship run, Bryant wasn’t just any co-star. Even if he wasn’t the Lakers’ top talent at the time, Kobe was instrumental in the team’s success.

“Kobe’s not your average passenger, that’s what made him different,” Shaq responded. “I can say this now, it doesn’t really matter whose team it was, but don’t ever get it twisted on who was in charge … But now that we got that out the way, what he said was correct. But people respect Kobe … That’s a silly conversation. The man is vital to my three championships.”

The four-time champion even admitted that, at times, Kobe was more crucial to the Lakers’ success than he was. Still, Shaq holds great respect for T-Mac and, surprisingly, agreed with his take on possibly winning alongside him.

“And what T-Mac said was correct, too,” O’Neal continued. “Think about that all the time. You switch out positions … Let me go on record and say T-Mac was a bad motherf*****. But you gotta understand, T-Mac out there by himself, he doesn’t really have room to operate. Our guy had room to operate ’cause I had three people on me.”

Shaq believes that if McGrady had enjoyed the space and freedom that Kobe did, he could have found similar success with the Lakers. While some saw McGrady’s comments as a slight toward Bryant, Shaq interpreted them differently. To him, T-Mac was simply expressing confidence in his own abilities and acknowledging that, with the right situation, he too could have reached championship glory.