{"id":820538,"date":"2026-08-25T21:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/820538\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T21:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:30:16","slug":"tracy-mcgrady-incorrectly-says-regular-season-mvp-outweighs-nba-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/820538\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracy McGrady incorrectly says regular season MVP outweighs NBA title"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA<\/a> offseason has reached its lowest point. Free agency has dwindled to waiting on Jonathan Kuminga to sign with the Lakers. A move that will ultimately leave them, at best, a second-round exit.<\/p>\n

With the basketball world in such a lull, big-picture conversations are being had in the media. On their \u201cCousins\u201d show, NBA legends Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady<\/a> brought up the weight of NBA MVPs versus NBA championships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MORE: 2 NBA teams that just increased their championship odds<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that neither Carter nor McGrady won either accolade during their illustrious careers. So they seem to come from a neutral standpoint and don\u2019t have any lean in the debate based on personal experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This topic came up on the show because Kevin Durant said that an MVP holds more weight than an NBA title. When brought up to McGrady, he doubled down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Carter asked McGrady his thoughts on the debate, and if an MVP holds more weight than a title, McGrady was bold in his answer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHell yeah, why wouldn\u2019t it? Man, name the tenth or the eleventh player on the Chicago Bulls or the Los Angeles Lakers, or the Detroit Pistons, or the Boston Celtics. Who are they? Any of those teams, name me the eleventh or the twelfth guy. You can\u2019t. He has a ring. Does he have an MVP? Can he get a MVP? Absolutely not. No. So yes, the MVP of the regular season has more weight than a championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGrady\u2019s answer isn\u2019t wrong, but it\u2019s also not what this debate is about.<\/p>\n

Tracy McGrady gives cop-out answer by comparing MVP to role players<\/p>\n

\"NBA:Mar 3, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Former Toronto Raptors and Buffalo Bills minority owner Tracy McGrady talks to the media. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect (Reuters)<\/p>\n

The debate of a championship vs a regular-season MVP isn\u2019t to prop up the eighth man on a roster. It\u2019s to compare great players alike- ones who have won an MVP but not a title, and vice versa.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The right way to do this debate is to debate specific players. A perfect example would be Russell Westbrook vs Jalen Brunson. Westbrook, of course, won the 2017 NBA MVP award after averaging a triple-double and being the first player since Oscar Robertson to do so.<\/p>\n

MORE: Russell Westbrook announces retirement from NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

Jalen Brunson hasn\u2019t won the league\u2019s MVP, but he did just win Finals MVP and his first title, having an all-time great Finals performance against the San Antonio Spurs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A regular-season MVP is an incredible accomplishment and won\u2019t be forgotten. That being said, we just saw how elite Brunson is at his peak.<\/p>\n

Leading an underdog Knicks team to their first title since Richard Nixon was the U.S. President matters more than Westbrook posting absurd stats that didn\u2019t lead to team success.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Westbrook never won a playoff series as the best player on his team. The 2017 MVP season was electric to watch, but the Thunder were No. 6 in the West and got bounced in five games by the Houston Rockets.<\/p>\n

Brunson just dropped 45 points to close out a championship run on the road. Only one other person has done that; his name is Michael Jordan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A debate between two great players is the point of the MVP vs championship debate. It\u2019s not whether the 9th\u00a0man on the Warriors will be remembered more than an MVP.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u00a0Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories with The Big Lead Newsletter\u00a0<\/a>\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA offseason has reached its lowest point. Free agency has dwindled to waiting on Jonathan Kuminga to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3770],"tags":[7,6,2085,681,680,476,3820,8079,2685],"class_list":["post-820538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto-raptors","tag-basketball","tag-nba","tag-nba-offseason","tag-raptors","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-raptors","tag-torontoraptors","tag-tracy-mcgrady","tag-vince-carter"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117158283108588618","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}