Earlier this morning on ESPN’s First Take, the great Tracy McGrady announced his retirement from the NBA. At 34 years old, and after 16 years in the Association, it’s a sad day and the end of an era. After career averages of 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists a game, T-Mac did say he would consider playing overseas. But more than likely, all McGrady-inspired attention will now shift to his Hall of Fame candidacy.
We’ve been watching him since he was a teenager – it’s hard to remember a time before he was in the NBA. His career is an illustrious one. We’ve covered T-Mac’s 10 Greatest Dunks already, but we wanted to go a little deeper. Here are the 15 greatest moments that have defined T-Mac’s legend:
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15. 2001: T-Mac puts 44 on Allen Iverson and the Sixers, knocks down his first career game-winner:
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14 & 13. 2003: T-Mac hangs a combined 74 points on Michael Jordan and the Wizards in two meetings in the same season:
12. 1998: A rookie T-Mac unleashes a huge fast-break dunk on the mighty Chicago Bulls:
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11. 2002: Tracy McGrady’s legendary off-backboard self-pass in All-Star Game:
10. 2003: T-Mac unloads the self-pass off-glass against his former team in Orlando:
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9. 2012: McGrady’s debut in the Chinese Basketball Association – he lets everyone know who’s boss (34 points, 8 assists, 9 rebounds):
8. T-Mac’s sick 360 reverse layup in traffic against the Cavs:
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7. 2009: McGrady returns to the Rockets and detonates a massive lefty-handed dunk on Tyrus Thomas’ face:
6. 2002: McGrady LOVED to play against the Wizards. MJ was out following knee surgery, but T-Mac still erupted for 50 points:
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5. Then a few years later… he dropped a career-high 62 on the Wizards…
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4. T-Mac’s fast-break tea bag dunk on the Bulls’ Kornel David:
3. 2005: THE DUNK on Shawn Bradley in the playoffs. This is just disgusting:
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2. The legendary high school adidas ABCD Camp dunk that put T-Mac on the map – we covered it here:
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1. 2004: The grandaddy of all T-Mac performances … McGrady explodes for 13 points in 35 seconds to upend the San Antonio Spurs:
Is T-Mac a Hall of Famer?
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