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McGrady s bold statement, let me replace Kobe s partner O Neal, I can win the championship too

6:32pm, 27 June 2025【Basketball】

McGrady is one of the most talented players in NBA history. Unfortunately, due to problems such as spinal injuries, he has suffered from injuries most of his career. Even though he has played for many teams, he has never won his own NBA championship.

For McGrady, when we are most familiar with him, he should be when he played for the Houston Rockets and partnered with Yao Ming. At that time, they had the title of "Yao and Mai" duo, but unfortunately they had never led the Houston Rockets into the Finals to compete for the NBA championship.

Recently, Yao Ming was also very moved by his never won the championship. He even said that in his 16-season career, he never had the chance to compete for the NBA championship.

McDie said on the show, "We have so many talented players who have won championships through this league. I mean, if you take them away from a championship-level team, I replace Kobe with Shaquille. Do you think I can't lead the Lakers to the championship? I never have a chance."

"I think if I was put in the position of winning the championship, I would definitely show up and do what I did in the playoffs and raise my team to that level. I just never have a chance. So, will I be deprecated because I haven't won the championship? I've never been put in that position."

McDie's words came after LeBron James criticized those comments about the historical status of players based on championships. McGrady agrees with LeBron James's view because he has not won the NBA championship, but his historical status has never been questioned by the outside world.

McDy is a very outstanding scorer. When he was against the Spurs, he scored 13 points in 35 seconds and led the Rockets to reverse the Spurs. This is his peak famous work. He used his performance to tell us that as long as the game is not over, we still have a chance to reverse and turn the tables.

McDy averaged 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and a shooting percentage of 43.7%. McGrady's career playoffs was when she played for the San Antonio Spurs in 2013. McGrady, who was a role player at the time, hoped to win a championship with the Spurs. As a result, the Spurs lost to the Heat and were reversed and turned around.

Unfortunately, he failed to stick to the Spurs because in 2014, the Spurs returned to the Finals, revenge on the Big Three of Miami Heat, and won the NBA championship. In fact, McGrady believes that if he replaced Kobe and partnered with Shaquille O'Neal, he could win the championship.

This remark has been questioned by many fans and media, because McGrady often suffered from injuries in the playoffs when playing for teams such as the Rockets. On the other hand, Kobe did not suffer from injuries. In fact, Shaquille O'Neal's partner Kobe was successful because the tacit understanding between the two reached an unprecedented level, and with the Bulls dynasty head coach Phil Jackson. McGrady joined that Lakers and his partner O'Neal did have a chance to win the championship, but the possibility of three consecutive championships is not high.

However, we can predict that if Kobe partnered with Yao Ming back then, he would have a very good chance to complete three consecutive championships in his personal career and even win more championships. However, McGrady's partner with Yao Ming has never touched the floor of the Western Conference Finals.