Kevin Durant showered praise on Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady during an appearance on the Out The Mud Podcast. Durant believes Garnett and McGrady are the most underrated players ever as they are incredibly skilled but don’t get a lot of respect because they didn’t win a lot of titles.
“I thought he (Garnett) was the best player in the league around that time (early 2000s),” Durant said. “I thought he could play point I thought he was shooting three. I thought he could do it all. So I really think him and T-Mac… I feel they’re the most underrated players in the history of the game for the simple fact they didn’t win on that level as, like a Kobe (Bryant) or a Tim Duncan.
“Technical skill and one-on-one, if you just look at the players and defensively they all could guard,” Durant continued. “T-Mac can make the same amount of playmaking decisions that a point guard can make and he’s 6’10”, shooting that thing. And KG was athletic, doing those same things too. So it’s kind of like, I feel like those two are the most underrated players to ever play.”
Durant also called Garnett the “perfect” player. Both he and McGrady made Durant’s pure hooper starting five and the Phoenix Suns star believes they would have had a much greater legacy if they had been in better situations.
“Him and T-Mac, circumstances and the situations make your legacy,” Durant stated. “But if we’re thinking just straight hoopers, yeah, it’s not many that can match them.”
Garnett and McGrady are undoubtedly two of the most skilled players in recent NBA history. There wasn’t much they couldn’t do on the court but they spent the majority of their careers on mediocre teams and didn’t have a lot of success as a result.
Garnett spent the first 12 seasons of his career with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In those seasons he made a total of 10 All-Star teams while his Timberwolves teammates combined to make just three. Garnett had little to no help and ended up wasting his best years dragging a mediocre supporting cast to the playoffs.
In 2007, the Timberwolves traded Garnett to the Boston Celtics and there he showed he could be a key contributor to a contending team. He helped the Celtics win the 2008 NBA title and won DPOY along the way.
Garnett injured his knee after the All-Star break the following season and missed the playoffs. His absence led to the Celtics failing to even make the Conference Finals, which shows just how important he was.
The Celtics made the Finals again in 2010 with a healthy Garnett but lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in a rematch of the 2008 Finals. The Miami Heat then emerged as the dominant force in the NBA following LeBron James’ arrival in 2010 and Garnett would never get close to winning a title after that.
You wonder how differently Garnett, who finished with career averages of 17.8 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game, would have been looked at today had he been in a better situation from the get-go. Would he have had as much success as Tim Duncan, who won five titles? We’ll never know for sure, but he’d have certainly won more than one championship.
While Garnett at least won a title, McGrady finished his career ringless. He was quite unfortunate as well as injuries to him and his co-stars played a big part in his lack of success.
McGrady and Grant Hill looked set to form one of the more exciting duos in the NBA when they joined the Orlando Magic in 2000, but the latter could just never stay healthy. McGrady ascended to superstardom when he won back-to-back scoring titles in 2003 and 2004 but with Hill injured, the Magic were never going to make much noise in the postseason.
McGrady then joined the Houston Rockets in 2004 to form a formidable duo with Yao Ming. Both men would, however, miss a fair bit of time due to injury and on the few occasions that they did manage to stay healthy, they couldn’t get the job done.
McGrady, who finished with career averages of 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game, is one of the bigger what-ifs in recent NBA history. If he wasn’t quite so unlucky, he’d have been held in much higher regard today.
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