00:00Tracy McGrady is joining us today, courtesy of the OBL.
00:03That's the premier 1v1 basketball league in the world.
00:07And it has not just TMAC, uh, as your founder, but owners such as Vince Carter and Quinn
00:13cook and Tim Hardaway senior and Jada kiss and Laren's Tate, John wall.
00:20And, uh, the first round of action is set for may 15th in Orlando.
00:25And you can get all the info at OBL hoops.com OBL hoops.com.
00:31Where are you joining us from TMAC?
00:33Where, where, where do you live?
00:34Where are you?
00:35H-Town.
00:37I know.
00:39You go to, uh, you go to Whataburger.
00:45Uh, I like Whataburger, but I don't eat fast food a lot.
00:48Yeah.
00:49He said the city Hawk, that's called a big ass house.
00:52I can see the background.
00:57Well, he earned it.
00:59He earned it.
01:00Tracy McGrady, one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
01:04Hall of Famer, of course, he had a tiny scene in the Oscar nominated Marty Supreme, which
01:11also featured George Gervin, by the way, also featured George in like a legit role.
01:15But do you have the acting bug now TMAC?
01:18Cause you were in Marty Supreme.
01:21I figured I'd give it a try.
01:24Um, you know, being that it was a, an elite actor in there and, uh, we had some other basketball
01:32dudes in there.
01:33Uh, George Gervin, I think Kimba Walker was one of them.
01:35So, yeah, I wanted to test and see, you know, what kind of acting skills I had.
01:40I was just being myself.
01:41Did you like it?
01:42It was.
01:43It was.
01:44The interesting thing is, uh, we, we were shooting a scene that the Harlem Globetrotters every year
01:51took a trip to Egypt and took a photo in front of the pyramid.
01:55So that's the scene that I was involved in.
01:58And, you know, just to see how they create that moment, you know, you just don't know
02:03how it's going to turn out, but it was, uh, an amazing, uh, movie.
02:07T-Mac, I got to ask you, 2004, you were in Orlando.
02:12That was your, your highest scoring NBA game of 62, right?
02:19Yeah.
02:20Where are you going with this?
02:22Bam, you were playing the wizard.
02:24So I would say the wizards need to get a damn defensive coach because everybody puts up numbers
02:29against them.
02:30Bam scores 83, bro.
02:33I did not know.
02:34Like I, it, it blew my mind that there were two sides of a guy dropping 83.
02:39So I know you saw about Bam dropping 83 and now people are questioning all that, bro.
02:44What's your take on Bam's 83.9 a week ago?
02:48Yeah.
02:48Well, I mean, it's, it's just like you play football, bro.
02:51And you know what I mean?
02:52When a team is running the clock, busting the clock up on you, like your job is to stop them,
02:58right?
02:59Don't get mad because they that much superior or they do a great job of executing their
03:05offense and their defense up.
03:07So I'm like, bro, these guys over there are getting paid millions of dollars.
03:12They're pros.
03:13The coach is getting paid millions of dollars.
03:15He's supposed to be a pro, put a defense together or strategy together to stop this
03:22guy.
03:22Now they was double and trying to triple team him and it didn't work.
03:28At the end of the game, when you saw that they were fouling, why are you fouling?
03:34That's just going to put him at the line to give him more points.
03:38It just didn't logically didn't make sense to me.
03:41But in terms of what Bam was able to do, if I got a chance to score 83 points, 80
03:48points
03:48in a game, regardless of how it looks, I'm going for history.
03:52Because at the end of the day, we're living in real time.
03:55But what about the people that's coming after us and they look out and be like, damn, Bam
04:00out of bio score, 83 points.
04:02Man, ain't going to care how the game looks at all.
04:06We're just living in that because we've seen it.
04:09Yeah.
04:11T-Mac, since we're in Miami, years ago, I remember hearing a story, I think from Brian
04:18Windhorst.
04:18And I don't know, honestly, if you ever confirmed this story, if you've heard it.
04:22Maybe you've already denied it.
04:23I don't know.
04:24But he was talking about the Heat trying to sign you in 2000 when you become a free agent.
04:29And the story includes a private jet for you, you and Alonzo Mourning on a speedboat flying
04:37around Biscayne Bay.
04:40And then it ends.
04:41Oh, jet skis, jet skis.
04:43And then you and Zoe end up at Pat Riley's house.
04:47Like, yeah.
04:48And he's holding a contract for you, a max contract.
04:51According to the story, to sign with the Miami Heat.
04:54And I want to know, any of that clearly, the jet skis part, is true?
04:58And how the hell do you turn that down?
05:00How do you turn down Pat Riley, Alonzo Mourning, jet skis, Miami, and a max contract to the Miami
05:05Heat to play with Tim Hardaway and Zoe?
05:08No.
05:11So, Tim, I don't think Tim Hardaway was there.
05:15I don't think Zoe was there at that time.
05:20Because I think Zoe was probably in Jersey.
05:23I don't know.
05:24It was a long time ago.
05:25But Zoe was recruiting me.
05:27I go on a visit.
05:30And, you know, I'm having a conversation with Zoe.
05:33And then he proceeds to take me out back.
05:36He was like, let's go out.
05:38So, we went out back in his crib.
05:41We hopped on some jet skis.
05:43Like, let's go for a ride.
05:44So, we ride on the jet skis.
05:46I'm a pro at jet skis.
05:47Because, you know, I'm a Florida boy.
05:49And when I signed with Orlando, I went and bought five of them.
05:52So, I had five jet skis at my crib in Orlando.
05:55So, I feel like I'm a pro riding with him at this time.
05:59But, we're rolling.
06:01And we pull up to the back of this big-ass crib.
06:05I'm like, dang.
06:07I said, bro, who live here?
06:08He was like, just come on.
06:10Come on in.
06:11So, we go to the crib.
06:14And Pat comes to the door.
06:16I'm like, oh, snap.
06:17So, we're in there talking.
06:20You know, he got his rings laid out, of course.
06:23And, yeah.
06:24I mean, he had it laid.
06:26He had the contract for me as if he was ready for me to sign.
06:30But, I was highly pursued after because I even went to Chicago.
06:36Now, Chicago rolled out the red carpet for your boy.
06:40I was like, it was hard because of all, you know, that what they put together.
06:48But, my decision was easy because I'm from Orlando.
06:51I'm from the Orlando area.
06:52And, all my life as a kid, this is what I've been looking at.
06:58I've been looking at this riding by the Orlando arena every single summer.
07:04You know, every day playing AAU basketball up there.
07:08My favorite player played for the organization at this time.
07:11So, I'm like, that's where I want to play.
07:14So, that's what they were really negotiating.
07:16They were recruiting up against that.
07:18And, that was a very challenging thing.
07:19What did Chicago do, though?
07:20Oh, man, Chicago, bro.
07:24So, Chicago, when I get off the freaking plane, they got the cheerleaders, the everybody, the Benny, the Bull.
07:35They got the whole, it's like almost the whole organization waiting for me when I get off the plane.
07:41All right?
07:41So, get to my car, get in the hotel.
07:45I'm chilling in my room, just sitting down on the couch like we got something for you.
07:50Pops in the tape.
07:52Oprah, personal message to me.
07:54I was like, oh, shit.
07:55I said, Oprah?
08:00Oprah recruiting you.
08:02Oprah recruiting you.
08:04Cool, cool, cool.
08:06So, I'm a baseball guy.
08:08Baseball is my first love, my first sport.
08:10So, I wanted to go to a Cubs game.
08:13Never been to Wrigley Field.
08:14So, we go to a Cubs game.
08:15Man, I'm sitting in the dugout.
08:17I'm talking to Ernie Banks, bruh.
08:19And then I'm sitting in the dugout just watching, playing, coming over the stadium.
08:27Welcome to Chicago.
08:28Like a whole message for me.
08:30I'm like, yo, this is amazing.
08:33Like, they laid it out, man.
08:34The Red Cubs was laid out.
08:36But, you know, that was right after MJ left.
08:39And there wasn't a good team, so.
08:43Mack, to that point, this is interesting to me.
08:46Like, just knowing, do you look back now as a retired old man like we are?
08:52Do you look back now and be like, damn, I had to be a hell of a basketball player to
08:56get this layout
08:58when I'm leaving one team to go to the other?
09:02Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
09:04When you look back on it, and what's crazy, I wasn't even in my prime yet.
09:10I was still, I was only 19, 20 years old.
09:13I was still young.
09:15Well, when I signed with Orlando, I just turned 21.
09:18So, to be pursued like that as a young player, meaning I put in a lot of work to be
09:25in this position.
09:26And that gave me a lot of confidence, and I felt like, you know, I really arrived in this league.
09:32And, you know, that really ultimately propelled me to continue to work hard and become an all-star that very
09:40next year.
09:41Tracy McGrady is with us and courtesy of the OBL, which I mentioned is the premier 1v1 basketball league in
09:50the world.
09:50And it's getting underway May 15th in Orlando.
09:53You can go to oblhoops.com.
09:56So, tell us about it.
09:57What drove you to a 1v1 basketball league?
10:03So, 2022, I started my league.
10:07I did a proof-of-concept season.
10:09And it was really, when you have a lot of money, man, and you're famous, and you have all these
10:18people pulling and tugging on you,
10:20trying to, you know, get you to invest in their dreams and, you know, things that they come up with.
10:27And some of it is good, but a lot of it is some bullshit, as, you know, Channing will tell
10:31you.
10:33We got to stop the cursing, T-Mac.
10:35We're on real radio here.
10:36We're not on the pivot.
10:38That'll got to be for me, bro.
10:40You're making Jimmy in that bottom corner there work hard, man, on the dump button.
10:47Hey, Jimmy, wake up, bro.
10:50T-Mac going to make you work, Jimmy.
10:59We got to get you involved, too, Doug.
11:04For me, it's like I can't keep investing in everybody else's, you know, audiologies and dreams.
11:10And I wanted to put something of my own out there.
11:14And basketball is my life.
11:15Basketball is what I know.
11:17And I just, I feel like, let me stay in this lane.
11:22So I will come home.
11:24I have two sons.
11:24And at the time, they were young teenagers.
11:26So I will come home.
11:28And my sons love the game of basketball.
11:31But they're not watching NBA games.
11:34They're not watching college basketball.
11:36They're watching YouTube.
11:38So I'm like, yo, what's the interest in you guys watching YouTube basketball players versus the real thing?
11:46And I was like, you know, we just like how they travel from city to city.
11:51And we like how, you know, all the trash talk and that the walls close when, you know, two guys
11:58get to talking.
11:58It goes from four on four or five on five to one V one.
12:02I was like, really?
12:03I like that.
12:04And on top of that, I own my own AAU program.
12:07So I have about 150 kids in my program.
12:10And after practice, this is what they love to do is play king of the court.
12:15So I'm receiving all of this information.
12:17And I, you know, where I grew up, there's a lot of cats from my area that just didn't make
12:24it.
12:24Very talented, but took that wrong path.
12:26And I know it's a lot of guys that are out here.
12:29I'm sure Shannon grew up with some that just took the wrong path.
12:33But they had crazy game, man.
12:35And then you look at some guys that probably had to step up as a man in the household when
12:39mom or dad, you know, had some tragedy or whatever.
12:44And they had to step up and lost their dream.
12:46Well, I'm bringing that dream back.
12:48There's a lot of guys out here, whether it's semi pro college players that still, you know, have that dream
12:55of playing high level basketball.
12:57Well, I want to create that platform for them.
13:00And when you look at where I am sitting today, it's because of ABCD camp.
13:07And if you don't know about ABCD camp, that was like the high school camp back in the days where
13:12all the top high school players from Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant to LeBron James, we all participated in the ABCD
13:19camp.
13:19And I was unranked and unknown in Florida my 10th, my high school year up until I went to ABCD
13:29after my junior year.
13:30So going into my senior year, no one knew who I was.
13:33It was this platform of ABCD where I burst onto the scene.
13:37And now the whole country knows me and I'm the number one player in the country.
13:41So it's for me, it's about the platform that I'm creating for these guys.
13:45You don't know, but you should know them.
13:47And I'm going to make sure I tell their stories for people out there to know who they are.
13:52Sounds super cool.
13:53I know you have other interviews to do, so we're going to let you go.
13:56We can talk to you for hours.
13:57Tracy McGrady.
13:58Again, the website is OBL hoops dot com.
14:03OBL hoops dot com.
14:05The premier one V one basketball league in the world.
14:08Real quick on the way out, who wins one V one right now, Zion Williamson or Victor Wimbanyama?
14:14Vic.
14:15Come on.
14:18Nothing.
14:19No, I think Zion.
14:24I think you're crazy, Matt.
14:25I do, but we don't got time.
14:27You've got places to go.
14:28Tracy McGrady.
14:29Thanks, T-Mac.
14:30Good to see you, Matt.
14:32Bye, guys.
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