Because Kobe and Magic play/played two completely different roles, it's a little harder to compare than just black and white. Magic made perhaps the greatest impact of any player in NBA history on the offensive end of the ball with his playmaking/passing, and led the greatest offense in NBA history. He could score quite well when needed. And somewhere on RealGM some guy showed he made one of the greatest impact on the boards of any player in NBA history, which cannot be looked past. Basically what I am getting at is raw skill-wise, Kobe will have pretty much any player beat. But in terms of impact on the game and teammates, saying Magic trumps Kobe isn't far-fetched whatsoever. In fact, most would agree with that. And of course people will remember Nash is a horrible defender. He has to be hidden on that side of the ball, and it's why he's never really been considered a top 3 player in the league despite his 2 MVP's. Give me a break. Ever since Kobe entered that superstar realm he's been a jumpshooter with a slashing game, never the other way around, and that is by his own mentality and style of play. When he was younger he had exceptional slashing ability, but not on the level of guys like Jordan/Wade/LeBron, and it was never his bread and butter. Games with Shaq, games without Shaq, in or out of the triangle...he was never a guy to eat teams alive on the drive consistently. It's never been what he's comfortable with because it's just not his game. And he was what, 26-27, when Shaq left? That lane opened up wide yet Kobe's game remained the same. When Kobe got Gasol, his game remained the same. Cop-out...major cop-out. Maybe for 2-3 years he had that kind of attention, but for the rest of his career? No. Not on a different plane from what LBJ has faced virtually his entire career, or what Wade has had to face the last 2 seasons. Yet both of those guys stayed more efficient than Kobe ever has despite those double and triple teams. Don't know which arguement you're talking about with McGrady, and I find it funny you're going to use T-Mac as an example, who's not even a top 50 player all-time and who for his career was always a pretty inefficient scorer. Shaq was also a guy who led the entire league in FG% multiple seasons, so you're comparing Kareem to the gold standard of FG efficiency. And I think most people, at least on the offensive end, would probably take a prime Shaq over prime Kareem. Where Kareem has a distinct advantage is defensively, and when comparing careers his longetivity.