Tracy McGrady’s critique of the modern NBA was not really about nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake. It was about identity.
Appearing on Nightcap, the Hall of Famer argued that too many teams now chase the same blueprint instead of building systems around their own personnel. McGrady contrasted today’s game with the league he played in, when contenders and pretenders alike tended to look stylistically distinct.
“The Lakers didn’t look like San Antonio. San Antonio didn’t look like Sacramento. Portland looked a different way. Boston didn’t look like Orlando. Everyone had a different style in which they played,” he said.
In McGrady’s view, that variety has thinned out.
“When you watch today’s game, it’s only a handful of teams that play a different style. San Antonio has a style that I love. Denver has a unique system they play in. You could say Boston as well. But everybody else is just the same,” he said.
He then sharpened the point by taking aim at imitation without context:
“Boston shoots a lot of threes too, but I don’t like it because everybody don’t have the personnel to be jacking up these threes.”
That is the most interesting part of the argument. McGrady was not simply condemning three-point volume or modern spacing. He was questioning the league’s habit of borrowing ideas without asking whether the roster can actually support them.
“So why not adapt a system that fits your team? Do something that’s conducive to the talent that you have. I just don’t see a lot of that,” he said.
Tracy McGrady tells Shanon Sharpe that in his era in the nba every team had their own style of play . Now other then the San Antonio spurs and the Denver nuggets these other teams all play the same way shooting 3s pic.twitter.com/esyXTxkvho
— joebuddenclips/fanpage (@Thechat101) March 26, 2026
His praise for the Spurs and Nuggets was revealing. Denver’s offense has long revolved around Nikola Jokić’s passing, touch and decision-making, while San Antonio’s style has increasingly drawn attention because of the unusual possibilities created by Victor Wembanyama’s size and skill set. McGrady’s point was that those teams still feel shaped by who they are, rather than by what everyone else is copying. Boston, in his telling, at least belongs near that conversation because its shot profile matches elite personnel, even if he does not love how often other teams try to mimic it.
There is an old-player element to the complaint, of course, but there is also a real basketball argument underneath it. McGrady is describing a league that has become more optimized and, in the process, sometimes less distinguishable. The numbers have pushed teams toward similar conclusions about spacing, pace and shot selection. What bothers him is not the logic itself, but the loss of fingerprints. In his view, too many teams now run versions of the same idea and hope the math will cover the absence of a true identity.
