Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady recently opened up about two of the NBA’s greatest icons, LeBron James and the late Kobe Bryant, sharing stories from the early 2000s that fans had never heard before.
McGrady recalled the moment he realized a young LeBron was different. It was Christmas Day, 2003, and McGrady, then the league’s leading scorer, was ready to make a statement.
“Man, I’m hearing all the hype of these cats coming in,” McGrady said on 7PM in Brooklyn. “I’m hearing it from my boys back home. ‘Man, what, you think I’m about to let LeBron come in and steal the show as a rookie from what I’ve been doing the last couple years out here?’” McGrady added. “But to see a young cat like that with the poise, going up against me at the time when I was leading the league in scoring, to see how he handled that, I knew he was going to be that dude.”
McGrady dropped 41 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds in a win for the Magic. LeBron, still just a rookie, finished with 34 points and six assists. But it wasn’t the stat line that impressed T-Mac most.
“I knew he was born for stardom,” he said. “When I saw he didn’t get discouraged, I was like ‘Okay, he’s going to be a problem.’”
McGrady went on to reveal his relationship with Kobe. McGrady revealed he lived with Kobe in Los Angeles for a stretch and leaned on him not only for basketball wisdom but for navigating life off the floor.
“I was living with him, so we had these conversations,” McGrady added. “Just to have those conversations, it really got me through a lot. I’m not even just talking about basketball, I’m just talking about having money, having to deal with family, having to maneuver through all of that. I didn’t know how to deal with that. Kobe grew up in this, so he had the blueprint.”
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