{"id":13735,"date":"2012-05-18T17:48:58","date_gmt":"2012-05-18T17:48:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bilcomprd.wpengine.com\/?p=13735"},"modified":"2023-06-12T12:47:16","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T19:47:16","slug":"flashback-friday-kobe-bryant-vs-tracy-mcgrady-in-2003-the-great-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ballislife.com\/flashback-friday-kobe-bryant-vs-tracy-mcgrady-in-2003-the-great-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Flashback Friday: Kobe Bryant Vs Tracy McGrady In 2003 \"The Great Debate\""},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tracy McGrady came off the bench for the Atlanta Hawks this season averaging 5.2 ppg, meaning he's pretty much an irrelevant player to the majority of our audience today. However, let's rewind about 9 years and the same Tracy McGrady was a max contract franchise player with a lifetime shoe deal with adidas and leading the NBA in scoring at 32.1 PPG. Many argued he was the best player in the league with potential to be a once in a generation type player, and with his 6'8\" frame, elite athleticism and skill-set the idea wasn't too farteched.<\/p>\n

Let's travel out west to a place known as LA LA land and if you weren't arguing in favor of McGrady being the best player in the league it was because you believed this man was. The man of course is none other than the best player of the post-Jordan era, Kobe Bryant. It's easy to mock this topic now knowing how both careers turned out, but think 2003. Kobe only had 3 championships that he \"won cause of Shaq,\" no MVP, no 81 point game, none of the things that have put him in the conversation for top 5 player. Ever.<\/p>\n

Kobe Bryant vs Tracy McGrady, the great debate. Every time they went head to head it was always one of the most exciting match-ups of the NBA season. Both at their athletic peak, both always ended up with similar stats and always took turns guarding each other.<\/p>\n

Here's the famous game from 2003 when both of them went on to score 38 a piece. The Magic won this one 112-102.<\/p>\n