Kobe Bryant faced many players during his 20-year career in the NBA. But there weren’t many who gave him a tough time on the court. Tracy McGrady was an exception.
So much so that Kobe once claimed McGrady was the player who gave him the most problems. Despite that, the two legends shared an amazing friendship that goes back to when they were teenagers. In a recent interview with Rachel Nichols on ‘What’s Burnin’ podcast, T-Mac shared a story about the time when he was at Kobe’s house in Los Angeles.
“I’m in L.A., I’m like 18 or 19 years old, like I want to go out, you know what I’m saying?” McGrady said. “I’m in the league, I want to go party, let’s go do this, let’s go chase ’em, let’s go chase ’em, then there’s Kobe in the house, watching these Michael Jordan videos.”
Bryant had no interest in partying. Apart from watching clips of Michael Jordan, Kobe also wanted to study karate flicks.
“He’s watching karate flicks, and I’m like, ‘Man, what the,'” T-Mac added. “He goes to the gym at six in the morning to work out, then he’ll go later on in the afternoon, then he’ll go at night, and I said, ‘Okay, this is different.'”
Tracy McGrady on when he stayed at Kobe's house in LA, back when he was 19 years old: TMac wanted to party. Kobe wanted to watch Michael Jordan videos. 😂 One of the best NBA friendships of all time – Kobe often said Tracy was the toughest person he ever had to guard. pic.twitter.com/WILh7QSSjZ
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) June 5, 2023
Kobe Bryant had an unparalleled work ethic from a very young age. It’s no surprise that he went on to become one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Speaking of his battles with McGrady, Bryant once shared details about a 1-on-1 game between the two. The Mamba claimed he cooked McGrady with ease.
It’s easy to believe Kobe’s statement as he holds a 14-7 winning record in head-to-head games vs. Tracy McGrady. During those games, Bryant averaged 26.9 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 5.3 APG. On the other hand, McGrady averaged 17.9 PPG, 4.8 RPG, and 4.8 APG.
All 21 games between the two stars were played in the regular season, as fans never had an opportunity to see them lock horns in the playoffs.
Tracy McGrady Says Spending A Summer In Paris With Kobe Bryant Changed His Game
Kobe Bryant dedicated his entire career to the game of basketball. He spent every second of his free time improving his craft.
Tracy McGrady knows a thing or two about Kobe’s work ethic. Of course, McGrady was baffled by it, but he learned a lot from Kobe after spending a summer with him in Paris in 1998.
“When I was in my prime, I never played pick-up basketball,” McGrady said. “When I worked out in the offseason, everything was just skill work. You know where I got that from. Me and Kobe took a trip to Paris and we took our trainers with us. On that trip, that’s all we worked on, our individual skills.”
McGrady then shared Kobe’s message to him: “He told me, ‘Man, I never play pick-up because how many reps can you get playing pick-up basketball?’ We did a lot of skill training, and I picked up a lot of things, and from that trip, that’s what I had added to my training in the offseason, all footwork stuff… That was like 1998. I came in in 1997, I was 19 years old.”
T-Mac couldn’t shine as brightly as he would have hoped due to the arrival of Vince Carter on the Toronto Raptors. He still managed to average 9.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists during the season in 49 games.
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