TMac says he never went to Germany with Kobe

[Zubby]

"The guy" with the European Magazin said so, but it can easily be some confusion on his part, because at that time Bryant might even was in Germany, but McGrady wasn't. Both were part of Adidas during those days, and might very well mentioned in the same article, but not as participants of the same event.

They were photographed with Antoine Walker in a gym, and the article definitely said they were in Germany together.

The mag was called XXL Magazine. It had headquarters in London, I believe. It was also translated into French, Spanish and Italian.

Honestly, I have no reason to make anything up. I have no horse in his race, and frankly, I don't give a flying doo-doo if Kobe beat T-Mac back then.

I can't even find a european XXL magazine(just the american hiphop one)

Meanwhile mysticbb has done the research and posted links to all the events abroad in that time frame and Kobe, McGrady were never together...

I think you might have fuzzy memory, its ok, I could of sworn when I was 10 I saw giants running in the trees behind my house.

[jax98]

I can't even find a european XXL magazine(just the american hiphop one)

Meanwhile mysticbb has done the research and posted links to all the events abroad in that time frame and Kobe, McGrady were never together...

I think you might have fuzzy memory, its ok, I could of sworn when I was 10 I saw giants running in the trees behind my house.

Well, aren't you a cutie?

The magazine doesn't exist anymore. Went out of business a decade ago or something like that.

Here's a picture:



EDIT: Oh, and another.

[inquisitive]

i would think if this really happened, there would be a video somewhere....europeans love their basketball especially back then..

[mysticbb]

I am 100% sure the mag said Germany. I live in Denmark, which is the neighbor country, so obviously, it caught my eye. I have no idea if the mag was wrong, or if did happen. But it stated Tracy, Kobe and Antoine were in Germany.

It is not that I don't believe you, while it is completely normal to mix things up, especially when it is 15 years ago. I am from Germany and I couldn't find any evidence of McGrady being in Germany before 2003. I find reference to Antoine Walker and Bryant being at Streetball events in Germany before, but no T-Mac.

And forgive me for not digging it up, but I have no intentions of going through 20-25 boxes for this. I promise, if I one day find it, I'll bump this and post it.

Well, understandable, it is not that important anyway.

[J-Mezzy]

I think that based on the evidence presented, we can safely assume Kobe is the one lying.

[jax98]

It is not that I don't believe you, while it is completely normal to mix things up, especially when it is 15 years ago. I am from Germany and I couldn't find any evidence of McGrady being in Germany before 2003. I find reference to Antoine Walker and Bryant being at Streetball events in Germany before, but no T-Mac.

Which is weird. Because they took a picture together in a German gym. Kobe on the left, Antoine in the middle and Tracy on the right. And it was 1999 for sure, since that was the year I experienced a six-month NBA black-out due to lack of Internet at home. Plus, they referenced Tracy as an upcoming second year player and talked about Kobe's first All-Star appearance.

[WenningtonGuy]

I think Teo made up the story. Trying to deflect some news off of him.

[22haytham22]

Deny till you die brotha

[The MVPlaya]

Hard to believe Kobe and T-Mac never played 1-on-1. I remember in a radio interview when T-Mac was still with Houston he said when he first entered the league he used to sleep on Kobe's couch and they trained together every day in the summer. Idk about that Germany stuff though.

[Sky_Knicks]

It is not that I don't believe you, while it is completely normal to mix things up, especially when it is 15 years ago. I am from Germany and I couldn't find any evidence of McGrady being in Germany before 2003. I find reference to Antoine Walker and Bryant being at Streetball events in Germany before, but no T-Mac.

Which is weird. Because they took a picture together in a German gym. Kobe on the left, Antoine in the middle and Tracy on the right. And it was 1999 for sure, since that was the year I experienced a six-month NBA black-out due to lack of Internet at home. Plus, they referenced Tracy as an upcoming second year player and talked about Kobe's first All-Star appearance.

Mmmmmm

I believe Morten. And I'm not buying the "he has fuzzy memory" stuff.

[The MVPlaya]

[jax98]

That's from a Magic Johnson charity game, IIRC. XXL Basketball once had a feature about that event also. Because I remember that picture.

[Joker]

Pretty sure the "UNCF" on their shorts is referring to the United Negro College Fund (the Johnson charity games raised money for that fund).

[Joker]

Okay, so we know McGrady was in Germany in 2003 without Kobe and posed for a picture with Kobe in L.A. The evidence has not been compelling thus far.

[Debaser]

For a second I thought that was Jennings

[Gus McCrae]

Get em' Morten!

[OhMyBosh]

Okay, so we know McGrady was in Germany in 2003 without Kobe and posed for a picture with Kobe in L.A. The evidence has not been compelling thus far.

The biggest story here isn't even the fact that their 1 on 1 happened or not.

The biggest story is the idiots who were able to jump on one side so soon without one speck of evidence just because they need to defend their favorite player.

My personal favorites:

"T-Mac is probably lying... because why would Kobe lie about it?".

/mindblown.

[jax98]

Get em' Morten!

No, it's not like that. Seriously, this has received way more attention than it should have. I only posted in this thread because I remember that article (very well, given the context) and now it's become a witch hunt. I have no horse in this race, and frankly, the article about Tracy first coming to Germany in 2003 adds legitimate questions to the article that I remember. I have no idea if XXL Basketball reported something wrongly or if the "2003 article" is wrong. No idea, none.

Here's what I know, and I'll leave it at that.

- XXL Basketball made a story centered around Kobe, Tracy and Germany. Antoine was there too, but was less featured. Which is weird when you think about it, given that Walker was the cover athlete for NBA Live in '99 and was a bigger star than Tracy at that point in time.

- XXL Basketball is no more. At least not the European version. And I think it's been well over a decade since that mag shut down. But at one point, it was quite large. Almost like a European version of SLAM magazine.

- The article spoke of Kobe's All-Star season and how Tracy was looking forward to beginning his second season in Toronto, since he wouldn't be a rookie anymore.

- Everything in that article was related to Adidas. That logo was everywhere. XXL Basketall had a deal with them without question, because there was not a photo in which you didn't see the players' shoes and t-shirts.

- At no point in the article did you see them outside a gym and on the streets of Berlin or somewhere in Germany. It was action shots of Kobe and Tracy dibbling, and one of Antoine dunking (ironic now, isn't it?)

I'm just relaying what I read, and I know what I read. I remember damn near everything when it comes to the league and its players. If it's correct or not, I have no idea. And I don't care either way. But to ignore the "2003 article" would be silly. I know I raised a few eyebrows when I read it.

Case closed.

(For me, at least)

[KDRE]

SO in the end... nobody has any evidence to show these guys in germany playing or doing anything together...but we have actual evidence otherwise?

If this was court they'd kick you out with the quickness. I'm not going to believe about some bankrupt magazine while everything else has some kind of historical proof to say otherwise... and Morten im not calling you a liar... I just believe Kobe is.

[Grumpy Heat Fan]

Kobe is coming off insecure as hell lately. Even if Kobe did play TMAC in 1999, that means Kobe was 20 and TMAC was 19. Whatever the score was in 1999, would it have been the same when TMAC hit his prime ?

p.s. this is TMAC in china lately

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Bqdn9l7Bk&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]