McGrady says he would've taken a step back to Kobe, Shaq had he joined Lakers

T-Mac says he would have developed into a Pippen-type player had he played with Shaq and Kobe

Tracy McGrady had a pretty successful individual career early on. He was a solid role man in Toronto, but once he got to Orlando he became one of the most dominant scorers in the NBA. His years with the Magic is where he made his name and even earned consideration for MVP.

He was never able to achieve the team success he wanted in Orlando and the same could be said for his days in Houston. Even with Yao Ming at his side, he continued failing to reach the heights he wanted with his team. One has to wonder what would have happened to him though if he had played with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles. 

Recently, Marc Stein of the New York times reported that the Lakers strongly considered making a draft day move for McGrady.

"McGrady came in the next year with a more mature body and worked out so well that Jerry kind of tooled around with the idea that maybe we should just go ahead and make a deal for whatever it took to get this guy — even though it'd be a step back in the short term — to have two guys like this on the same team."

On ESPN's "The Jump," McGrady talked about what teaming up with Shaq and Kobe would have been like. He says that he would have developed far differently and into more of a Scottie Pippen type player.

"We are talking about two of the greatest. ... To team up with these guys. What that could have done for me personally. Oh my gosh, man."

...

"My career took a turn when I went to Orlando because I had to become a scorer, because I didn't have Grant Hill. I was always the type of player like a Scottie Pippen type -- share the ball, defend the best player. That's what I did in my three years in Toronto. I would have been that playing alongside Kobe Bryant."

It's interesting to hear McGrady say this. Obviously, everything sounds better in hindsight, so maybe in Orlando he wanted to be more of a Pippen type player. He never did get the chance with Hill bit by the injury bug, which forced him to shoulder the load in Orlando. By the time he arrived in Houston, his reputation as a scorer was too great to not use him as a scorer.

Of course, this would have been the early days of McGrady's career. And if we're going to play along with this hypothetical, maybe, after winning some titles, he eventually leaves Los Angeles like he did Toronto and finds his scoring niche in another city. Someone that was able to get buckets the way he did couldn't have been contained for long. He was bound to become a scoring threat somewhere. Still, it's hard to not wonder what could have been had the Lakers and Raptors pulled the trigger on a trade in 1997.