Tracy McGrady is arguably one of the most underrated ballers of all time. Despite being one of the league’s best scorers in his prime, he wasn’t selected to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, which even baffled Allen Iverson.
But when he won scoring titles and put opponents on posters, T-Mac was widely respected around the league. And Gilbert Arenas told the story of the time he took over a photoshoot involving him, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, and some other players and ended it in five minutes.
“KG big, Duncan big, they was no T-Mac big,” Arenas said in an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast. “We’re in photoshoots. We’re talking about KG bruh, Tim Duncan. Mac coming in, he was like, ‘What are we doing today? What’s the call time?’
“Someone says, ‘Uh, we’re going to be here six hours.’ (McGrady says), ‘Oh, hell no we’re not. Y’all got five flicks. I’m going to hear five clicks and we’re out of here.’ Like you know me, I’m young, ‘Like 5?’ and I’m looking at Tim and he’s like, ‘Hey, whatever Mac say goes bruh.’ One, two, five. Walk out. ‘That ain’t it. That’s it?’ Tim was like, ‘If Mac says it, that’s it. We done.’”
This is an incredible story, and it goes to show how the lack of postseason success and longevity doesn’t do justice to how great a player was. From 2001 to 2007, McGrady was an All-Star seven times, also being named to five All-NBA teams.
His Rockets teams with Yao Ming were incredibly successful, although they never made it too far in the playoffs. T-Mac won two NBA scoring titles in his prime, and he surely would have won a lot more if injuries hadn’t taken a toll on his career. McGrady had the respect of his peers, even Kobe Bryant knew just how good he was.
Tracy McGrady Became A Legend Despite Not Even Loving Basketball As A Kid
One would expect that T-Mac was a baller at the level he was thanks to his love of basketball. However, that was far from the case, he once revealed that he was actually bullied into playing the game.
Going from not even enjoying basketball all that much to dominating a room that had Kevin Garnett and Tim Duncan in it is truly inspiring. While he doesn’t get half the love he deserves from modern fans, real ones will always know what a problem McGrady was when he was scoring with ease in the early 2000s.
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