One of the more underrated players of his generation, Tracy McGrady doesn’t often get the recognition for being one of the greatest scorers during his time. McGrady was a multiple-time scoring champion during his tenure in the league and could dominate opponents with his explosiveness on a nightly basis.
McGrady bounced around the league quite a bit. He first started out in Toronto, and eventually formed a solid tandem with his cousin Vince Carter. But the duo fell out after repeated failures in the playoffs, and McGrady moved to the Orlando Magic.
With the Magic, McGrady was back home in Florida and had a solid teammate in Grant Hill. But while the duo was formidable, they failed to bring any tangible success to the franchise. McGrady led the league in scoring twice during his stint in Orlando, before leaving to join the Houston Rockets.
Tracy spent the most time of his career in Houston, for the most part playing alongside All-Star center Yao Ming. While they combined to become one of the more underrated duos at the time, the story stayed the same for McGrady when it came to the playoffs.
McGrady eventually got the chance to play in the NBA Finals, during the last leg of his career in 2013. After a brief stint in China, Tracy signed with the San Antonio Spurs and played short minutes in the 7-game series against the Miami Heat. After failing to win an NBA championship, McGrady called time on his career.
But how would Tracy McGrady fare in today’s game? Quite well, at least according to himself. During an appearance on ‘The Jump’, where he was once introduced him as ‘hella famous in China’, McGrady said he would average 35-40 PPG during the current era of the NBA, and shoot at least 10 three-pointers a game.
“I look at some of these high-scoring guys that are shooting a lot more threes than myself or Kobe shot back in the days—averaging probably 10 threes a game. I’ll average, easily, 35, 40 points a game. Easily. I mean I averaged 32 without even shooting that many threes… and you can’t impede my progress when I’m running?”
Tracy is remembered as one of the NBA’s best during the 2000s. While he never won an MVP or an NBA championship, he was an elite scorer and was one of the most exciting players in the league at his best.
While there is no way to find out just how great a scorer McGrady would be in the modern NBA, it is hard to imagine him struggling in the league. Tracy is one of the most skilled scorers of all time., and could have adapted his game as such with the NBA becoming more three-point oriented if he were playing today.
