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“You Can’t Believe the Guy That..”: Rockets Legend Tracy McGrady Once Accused Kobe Bryant During Epic Banter

Published 05/24/2022, 8:30 PM EDT

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Kobe Bryant was one of the most competitive players to ever play the game of basketball. He had an obsession with winning at all costs, which made him work harder every day. This also made him push his teammates to be better every day at their craft. Even though he was very competitive, he had some good friends in the NBA.

One among them was NBA Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady. Bryant and McGrady had a good, friendly relationship on and off the court. Kobe and Tracy, being the same age, helped them solidify their friendship from their early NBA years. 

After the Lakers legend retired, he spent a lot of time coaching his daughter. Tracy also coached his daughter, giving them the chance to spend some time together.

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Rachel Nichols from ESPN’s “NBA: The Jump” talk show, hosted the pair for an interview. And they hilariously discussed the time Kobe Bryant beat Tracy in a one-on-one.

Kobe Bryant vs. Tracy McGrady

While Bryant was drafted in 1996, Tracy was drafted in 1997. McGrady has said that Kobe helped him survive the first few years in the NBA. They also had a similar style of play with speed, athleticism, and bounce. They were high flyers and their mid-range game is a lost art in today’s NBA.

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During the interview, Rachel asked them about the time Bryant beat McGrady in a one-on-one. And Kobe straight away said that he won the game. The Rockets legend initially denied that they even played a game of one on one. But Bryant insisted that they did and then Tracy said that they weren’t keeping score. But Kobe said that they kept score.

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So Tracy said, “So what we were doing, we were working on our footwork on the post. We were working out individually. And we were working on our stuff on the post. We wasn’t keeping score.”

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But Bryant was adamant that he kept score. So Nichols asked, “Have you ever been with him where he wasn’t keeping score?… Now that you know him, has he ever? I mean, please, he has a cup of coffee and keeps score who finishes first.”

And Kobe said that he won the game with a score of 11 to 3. A puzzled McGrady said that he doesn’t remember that. So Kobe said that he wasn’t pulling numbers out of thin air. So Tracy hilariously said, “You can’t believe the guy that doesn’t even know the location where we were playing at.”

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Bryant admitted that he may have forgotten the country, but he would never forget the score in typical Kobe fashion. But Tracy didn’t want to believe that the score was 11 to 3. So Bryant consoled him that he was having an off day, which could happen to anyone, but didn’t to Kobe that day.

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Written by:

Bagavathi Eswaran

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Bagavathi Eswaran is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. He has been playing the game of basketball for more than 20 years now and has also been following the NBA for more than 10 years. After not being able to go pro, this former college player decided to join the IT industry.
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Edited by:

Paras Pande