NBA legend Tracy McGrady is in the exclusive club of superstar athletes who have never won a championship. Despite McGrady’s other achievements, he never captured the Larry O’Brien, and he says that he never even had the opportunity during his 16-year career.
“We have too many talented players that come through this league that are championship worthy,” said McGrady on First Take. “What I mean by that is, if you take them off a team that is a championship-quality team — replace me with Kobe with Shaq. You don’t think I could carry the Lakers to a championship? I never had the opportunity. I felt like that if I was put in that position to win a championship, I damn sure would show up and do what I do in the playoffs to elevate my team to that level. I just never had the chance. So, do I get diminished because I never won a championship? I was never put in that position.”
The statement came amid a passionate discussion on the NBA’s ‘ring culture.’ While fans and media believe that winning should be the highest metric of success, LeBron James says that it shouldn’t count for everything. He believes that guys like Tracy McGrady (and other ringless superstars) deserve their place at the top and shouldn’t be judged by the overall success of their team.
On his own, T-Mac is one of the most elite shooting guards of his generation, with career averages of 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.4 assists per game on 43.7% shooting. The farthest McGrady ever got in the playoffs was the NBA Finals in 2013, where he played a minor role on the San Antonio Spurs. Before that, Tracy’s career was defined by early playoff exits with the Raptors, Magic, and Rockets.
In Orlando, McGrady hit NBA stardom, and he became the face of Magic basketball. While he got to play alongside guys like Darrell Armstrong, Bo Outlaw, and Mike Miller, he never really got the kind of help he needed to make a lasting playoff run.
By the time McGrady joined the Rockets in 2005, he was already 25 years old and just hitting his prime. He had ambitions of leading them to a championship alongside Yao Ming, but the Rockets didn’t add enough help, and Ming consistently struggled to stay on the court.
Following that period was a pretty sharp decline for McGrady, and he never really played a big role on a championship team after that. By all accounts, McGrady played his role to perfection for his teams, but they were unable to build a roster that could capitalize on his abilities.
In the end, he feels like he never got a fair shot at winning the title, unlike the stars of today (like Kevin Durant and Jimmy Butler), who tend to switch teams whenever the going gets tough. If McGrady had the resources and teammates that LeBron James had, he believes he could have been just as effective and that his career would be remembered differently today.
Given what we know about his past, it’s hard to argue that poor decision-making from GMs didn’t hold him back from ultimate success, but there’s no way to prove it now after being out of the league for the past 12 years.
