Hall Of Famer Reveals Untold LeBron James, Kobe Bryant Stories

   

Entering his 22nd NBA season with the Los Angeles LakersLeBron James continues a career unlike anything the league has seen before.

5x Champion Kobe Bryant advised LeBron James to treat every practice like a  game 7 so that he wins more - The SportsRush

For the past two-plus decades, James has set the NBA’s all-time points record, made more All-NBA teams and All-Star games than any other player in history, and played against great players in multiple different generations. 

Speaking on Carmelo Anthony’s podcast, Hall of Fame player Tracy McGrady recalled his 2003 Christmas Day matchup against James, stating that the matchup was when he knew ‘The King’ was destined for greatness. 

“I knew he was born for stardom,” McGrady said. “When I saw he didn’t get discouraged, I was like ‘Okay, he’s going to be a problem.'”


McGrady’s LeBron Story

While James was a rookie, McGrady was leading the NBA in scoring, finishing the 2003-04 season with the scoring title at 28 points per game. 

 

“Man, I’m hearing all the hype of these cats coming in, 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 finished the game with 41 points, eight rebounds, and 11 assists, helping the Orlando Magic take a 113-101 victory. James finished with a respectable 34 points and six assists, but according to McGrady, he wasn’t going to have the rookie out-duel him as a veteran and proven star. 

McGrady and James played a total of 20 times against each other in the 10 seasons they were in the NBA together. James has a slight advantage with 11 wins, while leading the rivalry in average points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks per game. However, James never matched McGrady’s 41 points on Christmas in 2003, as his high against the Hall of Fame scorer was 39 points.


McGrady Praised Kobe As Well

In the same podcast episode, McGrady also revealed that the late Kobe Bryant played a major role in his life during the first few years of his NBA career. He said that Bryant helped him ‘maneuver through having that much money’ and how to handle the national spotlight. 

“Having Kobe at the time, I could pick up the phone and call Kobe, he’s somebody I leaned on religiously at that time,” Mcgrady recalled. “I needed to have that conversation and learn from him who had the structure, who had the intelligence, to help me maneuver through this (expletive) that I know nothing about.”

McGrady also said he lived with Bryant in Los Angeles, and the Lakers’ all-time points leader helped him navigate playing in the NBA and all the downsides that came with playing basketball on the professional level.

“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 basketballI’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.”

On the court, both McGrady and Bryant were rivals competing for the title of best scorer in the NBA, but off the court, they had a ‘brotherhood’ as McGrady said.