Tracy McGrady says he never had a chance to win the NBA championship in his career

According to the article by Nico Martinez, a special contributor of US sports media F/W. NBA legend Tracy McGrady is an exclusive club for superstar athletes who have never won a championship. Despite other achievements McGrady has never touched the O'Brien Cup, saying he never even had a chance in his 16-year career.

"We have so many talented players from this league that they deserve the championship," McGrady said on First Take. "I mean, if you cut them off a championship-level team - replace me with Shaq with Kobe. Do you think I can't lead the Lakers to a championship? I never had a chance. I feel like if I was put in that position to win a championship, I would definitely show up and do what I did in the playoffs to take my team to that level. I just never had a chance. So, am I weakened because I never won a championship? I never got in that position."

The statement was made in a heated discussion about the championship culture in the NBA. While fans and the media believe that winning should be the highest measure of success, LeBron James said it should not represent everything. He believes people like McGrady and other ringless superstars should have a place in the top league and should not be judged based on the overall success of their team.

McDy, for himself, is one of the most elite shooting guards of his generation, averaging 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists in his career and shooting 43.7% from the field. McGrady went the farthest in the playoffs in the 2013 NBA Finals, where he played a small role with the San Antonio Spurs. Prior to that, Tracy's career was defined by early playoff exits for the Raptors, Magic and Rockets.

In Orlando, McGrady became an NBA star, and he became the spokesperson for Magic Basketball. While he can play alongside the likes of Armstrong, Otero and Miller, he never really got the help he needed to last the playoffs. When McGrady joined the Rockets in 2005, he was 25 years old and just reached his peak. He ambitiously led them to the championship with Yao Ming, but the Rockets did not provide enough help and clearly struggled to stay on the court.

After that, McGrady's decline was quite sharp, and since then, he never really played a major role in the championship team. McGrady is known to play his role perfectly in his team, but they can’t build a roster that can leverage his abilities.

Finally, he felt he had never had a fair chance to win the championship, unlike today's stars (like Durant and Butler), who tend to change teams when things get tough. If McGrady had the resources and teammates that James had, he believed he could be just as efficient, and his career would be remembered differently today. Given our knowledge of his past, it is hard to say that the team's general manager's poor decisions and prevented his ultimate success, but it is no longer confirmed in retrospect.