Gil\u2019s Arena<\/a>. \u201cBut if we take Bron who he is now, with the athleticism, speed, and everything, agility, and put him in that triangle, learning that, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question who the greatest player would be.\u201d<\/p>\nThe triangle, popularized by Phil Jackson\u2019s Bulls and Lakers, thrived on spacing and constant outlets.<\/p>\n
It helped unlock Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as dominant scorers while also allowing them to extend their careers by relying on skill and footwork. For the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer, McGrady believes the impact would have been enormous.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a triangle, it grows, right? Now he becomes a complete player because you have to be the closer in the triangle,\u201d McGrady continued. \u201cAnd it gives you the clearance and space to operate because of all the other s**t that\u2019s going on. I think he would\u2019ve learned the footwork, play with his back to the basket because that\u2019s where he didn\u2019t master.\u201d<\/p>\n
James has often been critiqued for making the \u201cright play\u201d in late-game moments rather than forcing shots himself. McGrady suggested that the triangle would have forced LeBron into that closer role, balancing his elite passing instincts with a scorer\u2019s mindset.<\/p>\n
Even without that system, James\u2019 r\u00e9sum\u00e9 remains unparalleled. A four-time champion, four-time MVP, and the league\u2019s all-time scoring leader, the 40-year-old forward is set to begin his 23rd NBA season alongside Luka Doncic in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
McGrady\u2019s point highlights a what-if scenario in basketball history: the most intelligent player of his era learning the most intricate offense of its time. If LeBron had mastered the triangle, McGrady is convinced, \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question who the greatest player would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Mitchell Robinson Fires Back at Critics Over Charlie Kirk Stance<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tracy McGrady believes LeBron James could have removed all doubt in the GOAT conversation if he had been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-146477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}