In 2002, Kobe Bryant was on top of the basketball world—his first All-Star MVP in the bag and a three-peat with the Lakers at just 23. That made him the youngest to win three titles, and the pressure was real for everyone trying to keep up. Kobe had already set the gold standard for greatness, and the league knew it. But while Kobe was rewriting history, another young star was carving out his own lane. Fresh off an Adidas deal that Kobe had turned down, Tracy McGrady was determined to show he had made the right choice.

Before T-Mac even hit the league, Kobe Bryant was already Adidas’ golden boy, the steal of the ’96 Draft with a six-year, $48 million deal at just 17. He dropped the KB8 in ’97, followed by the KB8 II, III, and then The Kobe in 2000, pushing Adidas back onto the sneaker map. But the Kobe 2? A disaster. Fans hated it, and Kobe himself reportedly couldn’t stand it. That flop led him to pay Adidas $8 million to walk away. And with Kobe gone, Adidas needed a new face—enter Tracy McGrady, who landed a massive $100 million lifetime deal to carry the torch.

Did that massive Adidas deal give T-Mac extra motivation when going up against Kobe? Not at all. He laughed it off on Gilbert Arenas’ show, saying, “No, there was no motivation in that [being the face of Adidas]. We just competitors, man. At that time Kobe’s was playing for championships.” But the pressure? That was real. T-Mac admitted, “Yeah, I felt like every time I competed against him, I had to not so much outdo him, but I had to compete to where m—– be like, Kobe did his thing but s– Mac was right there with him, see what I’m saying? It had to be that conversation.” He feared that the narrative shouldn’t be against him. ” It couldn’t be like, Kobe destroyed Mac a–.”

And that competitive fire gave us some iconic duels. On November 27, 2002, Kobe Bryant and T-Mac squared off in Orlando for an early-season showdown that felt bigger than just another game. Kobe dropped 38 points with 10 rebounds and 4 assists, while McGrady answered with 38 and 9 dimes to lead the Magic to a 112–102 win. It was a show for the fans, proof of just how special their battles were. Tracy McGrady became one of the greatest scorers of his generation, but Kobe would ultimately have the last word—five championships to McGrady’s none. The competition was real, and every time they met, you felt it.

T-Mac himself admitted that Kobe was the only one who truly unlocked his scoring fury—”Nobody, no one brought that out of me. No one!” he said. After joining Orlando in 2000, he added a smooth mid-range jumper and became one of the league’s deadliest scorers. By 2001, he was the NBA’s Most Improved Player and an All-Star, kicking off a streak of seven straight selections and seven All-NBA nods.

He once lit up the Magic with a franchise-record 62 points, then stunned the Rockets’ home crowd in 2004 by scoring 13 points in just 35 seconds against the Spurs. A two-time scoring champ, McGrady finished with 18,381 career points, 5,000+ rebounds, and 4,000+ assists—ranking 81st on the NBA/ABA scoring list. Kobe may sit fourth all-time with 33,643, but make no mistake: T-Mac was one of the most incredible offensive talents the game has ever seen.

Even after pushing Kobe to the limit in 2002, Bryant still walked away with his third straight title—and maybe that stung T-Mac a little. This June, he went viral saying, “Replace me with Kobe with Shaq, I don’t win a championship? You don’t think I can carry the Lakers to a championship?” McGrady did make the playoffs nine times, while Kobe and Shaq pulled off that historic three-peat from 2000 to 2002. MVP voters even had T-Mac finishing sixth in 2001 and fourth in 2002—ahead of Kobe’s ninth and fifth-place finishes. But make no mistake, McGrady held Kobe in the highest regard, once admitting Bryant was an even tougher matchup than Michael Jordan.

Kobe’s exit opened the door for T-Mac’s Adidas era

Tracy McGrady is back with Adidas, and this time he’s bringing something special with him—the legendary ABCD Camp. The same camp that once put him on the map in 1996, turning an unknown high school kid ranked 175th into a McDonald’s All-American, is getting a revival. “I have ABCD. We’re bringing ABCD back next year… because of my relationship with Sonny Vaccaro,” McGrady revealed on Gil’s Arena. For him, it’s more than just business. It’s about coming full circle with the man who gave him his first platform and using Adidas to inspire the next wave of hoop stars, just like it did for Kobe, LeBron, Melo, KG, and McGrady.

McGrady’s history with Adidas runs deep. At just 18, before stepping on an NBA floor, he signed a six-year, $12 million deal—a moment he called “life-changing.” By 2002, Adidas had doubled down and given him a $100 million lifetime contract, making T-Mac the face of the brand after Kobe Bryant’s dramatic exit. Kobe had paid $8 million to walk away from Adidas following disputes over his sneakers, famously rejecting a $200 million offer to go sneaker-free. That opened the door for McGrady, who later admitted, “If it wasn’t for Kobe leaving Adidas, I probably wouldn’t have gotten my big deal. I would’ve got leftovers. Man, my dog, thank you… I moved up the charts, boy. And s–, I got that big bag and still getting it.”

But even legendary partnerships hit bumps. After six signature shoes and decades as one of Adidas’ global icons, McGrady walked away in 2022, saying, “I’ve been with Adidas for 25 years, I think we’re coming to an end… I deserve better.” The breaking point came when Adidas refused to support his One’s Basketball League. “When I started OBL, I was told I couldn’t pull this off by Adidas. And so that’s why I feel that way,” he explained. Now, though, the reunion has fans buzzing. Adidas is retroing its classic kicks, ABCD is set to return, and for T-Mac, it feels like a chance to finally write the story on his own terms.