Many players think they deserved to win certain awards at a specific season. LeBron James still believes he should have gotten the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year award over Marc Gasol, and he’s not letting that go so easily.
Others believe they deserved more recognition for the All-Star Game or any other award in the league. This isn’t new, as Michael Jordan felt that way in 1993 when the NBA awarded Charles Barkley the MVP prize.
In recent days, Tracy McGrady revealed that he thinks he should have gotten one MVP award for his contributions to the Orlando Magic. During a recent appearance on Shaquille O’Neal’s ‘The Big Podcast with Shaq,’ T-Mac made a case for himself for the 2003 MVP award.
That year, San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan took the award home in a magical season that saw him win his second NBA title. McGrady, who was part of the Orlando Magic during that season, had some things to get off his chest. The former shooting guard stated that leading the Magic to the 8th seed in the East during that season, averaging 32.1 points per game, with no stars by his side was enough to get him the prize.
“Who won the MVP that year,” asked O’Neal to McGrady.
“I think Tim Duncan got it that year,” McGrady replied. “You take him off of the Spurs, they still make the playoffs because they were that great.”
McGrady replied by saying Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were on that team and they were stars, but Shaq wasn’t having any of that.
“No, they don’t,” O’Neal said. “A lot of those guys got their success off of him. He got doubled, he’s kicking it out to Ginobili. They win games but they don’t make the playoffs. They lived off of Mr. Duncan getting doubled. If you take Tim off that team, they don’t have the same success.”
He did have a terrific season with the Magic, averaging 32.1 points per game along with 5.5 assists, 1.7 steals, 6.5 rebounds and shooting 45% from the field. On the other hand, Duncan finished the regular season with 23.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 51% field goal shooting, 2.9 blocks and 3.9 assists.
Even though McGrady was a scoring machine and beat incredible players to earn that scoring title, but still wasn’t enough to get him the most coveted individual award in the association. There’s nothing he can do now, as Duncan won his award, made it to the Finals, beating Shaq in the process, and won the championship again.
