Jerry Krause Tried To Acquire Tim Duncan, Tracy McGrady, Grant Hill.

Jerry Krause was determined to be ahead of his time and form the NBA’s first Big 3, through free agency alone.

While Tim Duncan, T-Mac, & Grant Hill were all free agents by the summer of 2000, signing all three or even one of the stars was a much more difficult task than Krause expected.

What Jerry Krause didn’t expect was finding out that the Bulls organization had less “pull” and influence than expected. All the juice came from Mike. Not even one of these stars considered the Bulls.

Tim Duncan was in the midst of building something special in San Antonio, so he was always the tough sell. However, landing Tracy McGrady and Grant Hill was the more realistic possibility from the start.

There were rumors that the two stars were going to team up, and they did, just not in Chicago. The Orlando Magic, who at the time had a lot more organizational pull, were able to land T-Mac & Hill.