Off TRAQ Podcast — Golf's Real Conversations
Nov 4, 2026 · 48 min · 12 segments
If Rory McIlroy were an NBA player, would he be Kobe Bryant or LeBron James? Is Bryson DeChambeau golf's Steph Curry or Shaq? And is Scottie Scheffler the Tim Duncan of golf? We're back for Part 2 of…
We are moving on to the modern era.
So these are the guys that are still playing, still active, or in recent history have been active, so to speak.
Yeah, so this might be a bit of a biased, probably the most biased one on the list.
But Rory being my favorite player, the NBA comp for me is my favorite player, which is Kobe Bryant.
I think Rory and Kobe has so many similarities.
Rory won all those majors so early in his championships.
Kobe, the three-peat with Shaq.
And then there was that like kind of middle part of their career where they were excelling, but they weren't quite getting over the hump.
And then Kobe had his two at the end with Pau.
The other thing is that they both followed defining superstars, right? Rory after Tiger, Kobe after Jordan.
And they both had that big brother, little brother relationship with each other.
And so I feel like there is no better comparison for Rory McIlroy than Kobe Bryant for that reason.
I mean, I don't know about no better, but...
Okay, so I agree with all your points, right? I think for me, the thing that I'm going to add on, which is what changed my view a little bit, is that Rory has been in the spotlight since he was young, since before he entered the tour, right? And in a very significant way, right? Like you can go back and there's clips of Rory when he was like a little kid appearing on TV shows.
And so... all around amazing player, uh, anointed, right? Like next big player expectations starting from a very young age.
Um, obviously, uh, maybe not quite there yet.
Cause Rory's still younger in his career, um, or, or not towards the tail end of his career just yet.
But, in the conversation of, is he one of the greats, right? Like, and so for me, I actually went a little bit different and this is where I put LeBron, right? Because LeBron had that like teenager coming out of high school expectations.
He's gonna be a great, and in a lot of ways, you know, has obviously delivered in his career.
I don't know if he had the same level of setback as Rory, You could argue with the way that LeBron has hopped around on some of his teams that maybe he, you know, had a little bit more control over some of the things that happened in his career.
But for me, that that story of that, like, youthful, anointed expectations to be the great.
That's where I draw that parallel there.
We are moving on to the modern era.
So these are the guys that are still playing, still active, or in recent history have been active, so to speak.
Yeah, so this might be a bit of a biased, probably the most biased one on the list.
But Rory being my favorite player, the NBA comp for me is my favorite player, which is Kobe Bryant.
I think Rory and Kobe has so many similarities.
Rory won all those majors so early in his championships.
Kobe, the three-peat with Shaq.
And then there was that like kind of middle part of their career where they were excelling, but they weren't quite getting over the hump.
And then Kobe had his two at the end with Pau.
The other thing is that they both followed defining superstars, right? Rory after Tiger, Kobe after Jordan.
And they both had that big brother, little brother relationship with each other.
And so I feel like there is no better comparison for Rory McIlroy than Kobe Bryant for that reason.
I mean, I don't know about no better, but...
Okay, so I agree with all your points, right? I think for me, the thing that I'm going to add on, which is what changed my view a little bit, is that Rory has been in the spotlight since he was young, since before he entered the tour, right? And in a very significant way, right? Like you can go back and there's clips of Rory when he was like a little kid appearing on TV shows.
And so... all around amazing player, uh, anointed, right? Like next big player expectations starting from a very young age.
Um, obviously, uh, maybe not quite there yet.
Cause Rory's still younger in his career, um, or, or not towards the tail end of his career just yet.
But, in the conversation of, is he one of the greats, right? Like, and so for me, I actually went a little bit different and this is where I put LeBron, right? Because LeBron had that like teenager coming out of high school expectations.
He's gonna be a great, and in a lot of ways, you know, has obviously delivered in his career.
I don't know if he had the same level of setback as Rory, You could argue with the way that LeBron has hopped around on some of his teams that maybe he, you know, had a little bit more control over some of the things that happened in his career.
But for me, that that story of that, like, youthful, anointed expectations to be the great.
That's where I draw that parallel there.
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