Tracy McGrady Addresses Kevin Durant's Claims That An NBA MVP Award Has More Weight Than A Ring
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Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter recently sat down to record an episode of their podcast, ‘Cousins’, where they discussed Kevin Durant’s comments on Fred VanVleet’s podcast, in which he claimed an MVP award holds more weight than a championship.
Former Rockets player Tracy McGrady agreed with Durant’s claims and explained why he feels the same way.
“Hell yeah, why wouldn’t it?” said McGrady as Carter brought up Durant’s assertion. Tracy McGrady then challenged Vince Carter to name the 10th or 11th player on any dynasty team, which he couldn’t do at that moment.
“The MVP of the regular season has more weight than a championship. That is the whole team. This is not just team, it’s ownership, it’s management, it’s all of this that plays into winning a championship… MVP? That’s you putting in some work.”
“Playing the same schedule, the same 82 games, the same teams three or four times, sometimes two. So yeah man, I’m going MVP because whoever wants to win a championship, it’s a collective thing. The MVP, that’s individual,” McGrady concluded.
If anyone understands the value of individual recognition awards, it’s Tracy McGrady. The seven-time NBA All-Star never won an MVP award or a championship ring. But his All-Star selections, All-NBA team recognitions, and 2001 Most Improved Player award earned him a Hall of Fame induction in 2017.
Back in December when Durant brought this up, he was asked in the context of the debate between James Harden and Dwyane Wade.
“MVP is one a year. I don’t give a f–k what nobody says; the ring is incredible, and it’s a great, great moment. Great team accomplishment… But come on. Everybody wants to be MVP for sure,” Durant said.
“If you got a chance to become an MVP in this NBA, I can see if it was an MVP per team, then it’s like ‘alright, give me the ring.’ But there’s just one MVP.”
“And in a ring, there’s a lot that’s out of your control with the ring sometimes. As the MVP, you got a little bit more control in your hands when you got a chance to win an MVP,” he concluded before claiming that James Harden is his pick for the third-best shooting guard of all time, behind Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
In my opinion, if the debate is about comparing two stars from a similar era, then yes, individual recognition comes before team accolades in determining who is better. But if the debate is which team was better, then championships certainly supersede individual honors.
Basketball fans debate too many individual player comparisons, even though it’s a team sport. So in that context, I agree that an MVP award gets an individual a lot more respect than winning an NBA championship does. But in an ideal world, that should not be the case.