T-Magical – A Look at Tracy McGrady’s What Ifs (and His Sneakers)

Certain player’s careers leave legacies riddled with a lot of ‘what ifs’. The career of Tracy McGrady might be one of the greatest ‘what if’ tales ever told.

What if Tracy stayed in Toronto with Vince Carter as they entered their primes together?

What if Grant Hill remained healthy in Orlando (the McGrady/ Hill combo never took off because of Hill’s constant injuries)?

What if Tracy McGrady’s back remained healthy while playing with Yao Ming?

‘Deeply unfortunate’ best describes the luck of this articles titular (x7) All-Star, but when Tracy McGrady was healthy his game left few questions. The two time Scoring Champion had the range and athleticism reserved for fictional 2k players. Imagine a bigger, stronger, faster Brad Beal (leave a comment below if you think is a good comparison) and you’d have an idea of what T-Mac’s game looked like. While in his prime T-Mac averaged a staggering 28 ppg, 7 rpg and 5 apg. If you’re curious about what a nimble monster looks like on the court then checkout these highlights from the 2001- 2002 season:

T-Mac instantly became marketable once he entered his prime with the Orlando Magic. Adidas smartly released McGrady’s first signature shoe, the T-Mac, in 2002 and they began featuring him as a marquee endorsee alongside Kobe Bryant. The T-Mac instantly became one of the hottest shoes around as it perfectly combined court and street wearability. Spiritually the shoe builds off of the Pro-model with a new age toe box shell that ditched a lot of the Pro Model’s bulk. Adidas’s longstanding cushioning technology, AdiPrene, provided solid bounce and support to the low-tops and a TORSION mid-foot system rounded everything out. The T-Mac sat on hiatus without a retro for a decade but now Adidas occasionally releases new takes on McGrady’s first shoe. He has a lifetime deal with Adidas so expect retros to pop-up forever. Let’s take look back at some OG T-Mac’s and remember the good ol’ days of McGrady VS Bryant. Don’t forget who made the ‘off the backboard to myself’ cool… it was T-Mac!

The 2002 All-Star Game was held in Philadelphia so Adidas adorned the shoes with a Liberty Bell, one of the city’s landmarks from the American Revolution.

Can the NBA please bring back All-Stars wearing their home jerseys in-game?

Bonus

High school LeBron wearing the T-Mac 1. Adidas would go on to retro a SVSM T-Mac 1.

SVSM T-Mac I with ’23’ on the heel (the closest Adidas is getting to using LeBron’s likeness lol)

Houston Rockets Tracy McGrady T-Mac I Retro Sample

If you’re a true T-Mac fan, check out The Comprehensive History of T-Mac Sneakers