Earlier, it was revealed that former Los Angeles Lakers general manager Jerry West once tried to put Tracy McGrady on the same Lakers team that already had Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Just imagine what could have been if that plan pushed through. On one hand, the Lakers had one guy who once exploded for 81 points in a game. On the other hand, the Lakers had a player who became a legend for pouring in 13 points in 33 seconds. Then there’s Shaq, a mammoth that can’t possibly be stopped by only two people during his prime. It would’ve been the Big Three way before the age of Big Threes.

Speaking on ESPN’s The Jump, McGrady sounded very welcoming of the idea of him being with the Lakers team that already had Kobe and Shaq. McGrady event went on to say that he probably would’ve become the Scottie Pippen of that squad.

“My career took a turn when I went to Orlando because I had to become a scorer, because I didn’t have Grant Hill. I was always the type of player like a Scottie Pippen type — share the ball, defend the best player. That’s what I did in my three years in Toronto. I would have been that playing alongside Kobe Bryant.”

If that’s the case, then the Lakers probably would’ve won more titles during the Kobe-Shaq era because any team that has a Scottie Pippen-type player is bound to be better. Then again, if that happened, it’s unlikely that we would have had seen Kobe’s 81-point game and McGrady’s 33-second transformation into a basketball demigod.