NEW YORK — There is, as Tracy McGrady explains, a difference between the best player in basketball and the best basketball player.
In his era, for instance, LeBron James was widely viewed as the greatest because of his all-around game. But presented with a hypothetical one-on-one contest against another contemporary, McGrady doesn’t hesitate to pick against LeBron.
“Kobe is a one-on-one killer. That’s what he does,” McGrady says.
The 43-year-old McGrady moves up in his chair. Only minutes prior, he was bubbling over news that the latest season of ‘Stranger Things’ was streaming on Netflix. Then Kobe vs. LeBron became an opportunity to highlight the reason McGrady is answering questions inside the empty restaurant of his lower Manhattan hotel.
“LeBron is the best player in the league at that time, but he’s not the best one-on-one player,” McGrady continues. “I want to find out who is the greatest basketball player. Because LeBron is the best in a five-on-five setting. Not the best me vs. you. I want to find the best me vs. you. And nobody has ever tried to do that.
“People always talk about the GOAT. But that’s in structured, five-on-five organized basketball. That player would not be the best one-on-one player in the world.”
McGrady’s brainchild, Ones Basketball League, is touring the United States and stopping this weekend in Brooklyn’s Major R. Owens Community Center, staging a one-on-one tournament to determine the best in a field of 32.
Unlike Ice Cube’s Big-3 league, McGrady’s contestants aren’t well-known or associated with the NBA. For most, it’s a first opportunity for real exposure, especially since the league has partnered with Showtime. The top-8 from Saturday advance to Sunday, when the winner is awarded $10,000 and spot in the national tournament for a $250,000 grand prize.
Games are short — the winner needs only seven or nine points, depending on the round — and McGrady has big ideas about the league’s future.
“Global,” he said. “Identify the model in North America and license it to different countries. OBL Worldwide Olympics.”
It’s a also the latest business venture for a Hall of Famer, who, just nine years removed from his final season, has already owned a minor league baseball team, pitched a few minor-league innings, worked at ESPN and started a sports agency.
“I can’t sit still. I get bored,” McGrady says. “How much time can I spend on the beach sipping on some Mai Tais?”
Dream one-on-ones
We asked McGrady for predictions on the following theoretical one-on-one games, assuming each contestant enters in his prime:
Kevin Garnett vs. Tim Duncan?
“I would have to go with KG because KG has handles. It’s an odd matchup. Duncan is a back-to-basket type of player. KG can handle the basketball, shoot. Not saying Tim Duncan can’t. But he’s back-to-the-basket and KG faces the basket and is also a back-to-the-basket dude. So I would say this — if they’re playing back-to-back-the-basket, I’d say Timmy would win. But if they’re playing on the perimeter, give it to KG.”
Allen Iverson vs. Kobe Bryant?
“Kobe. He’s too big.”
You vs. Vince Carter?
“Me. I’m not going to say somebody is going to beat me.”
Bullish on NYK front office
McGrady is a big believer in the latest iteration of the Knicks front office and predicted a big summer while referencing the organization’s well-known desire to land Utah’s Donovan Mitchell.
“Donovan Mitchell is from New York,” McGrady said. “I’m saying there’s a very good chance, a high percentage chance, that they will land something good this offseason.”
McGrady added that he’s close with Knicks GM Scott Perry, a former University of Michigan assistant coach who tried to recruit McGrady out of high school (he went straight to the pros instead).
“They have some good people in management now that they didn’t have back (when I played for the Knicks in 2010). They’re trending in the right direction,” McGrady said. “I know the power and influence those guys have on players — Scott P., (William Wesley) and Leon Rose — those three guys, the influence they have on some of these players, the relationships they have, they’d be able to turn around the New York Knicks.”
It was a much different sentiment than my last interview with McGrady in 2017, when he was named a Hall of Fame finalist and unloaded on team president Phil Jackson for criticizing Carmelo Anthony.
“I feel bad for Melo. But he’s handled it so well,” McGrady said at the time. “Me in that situation? It probably would be a different story.”
