‘Toronto had no chance’: Why McGrady knew he wasn’t going to re-sign with Raptors

Is there an older story than unrequited love? As much as you want someone to stay, to be a part of your life and legacy, nothing guarantees they feel the same way.

It’s a feeling Raptors fans have become all too familiar with. Hoping Kawhi Leonard stays following the championship, laying it all out on the line with gestures of affection like ‘KaWine and Dine.’ Or with Chris Bosh in 2010, hoping he doesn’t pick a big three in Miami and that he’s content with building something from the ground up in Toronto.

Life doesn’t work that way though, does it? The Raptors have known that since the inception of the franchise 30 years ago, with the departure of one of their first stars, Tracy McGrady, laying the groundwork for heartbreak that can still be felt today.

Even after betting on him as a prospect straight out of high school, pairing him with his cousin Vince Carter and developing him into a rising star, nothing can guarantee someone sticking around. It’s a reality that the Raptors were forced to accept on a hot August day in 2000 as they traded McGrady to the Orlando Magic, forced to come to grips with the fact that he was never destined to stay in the first place.

“Toronto had no chance, bro,” McGrady said in the second episode of Raptors Delight, a Sportsnet documentary about the rise of the franchise. “I knew once I became a free agent that I was going to Orlando, I was coming back home.”

Following his third season in the NBA, McGrady — who had averaged 15.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists and was well on his way to stardom — knew that there was an expiry date in his time in Toronto. With free agency around the corner, he chose to go home.

A native of Bartow, Fla. — only an hour and a half drive from Orlando — playing back home was a dream of McGrady’s, and no matter how much the Raptors tried to make him feel like the city was his, Toronto couldn’t compete with home.

“I’m home,” the 21-year-old said in his introductory press conference back in 2000. It’s hard to fault a kid who grew up watching a team — with that same team offering him the chance to be their star — to turn them down. That’s simply not an offer the Raptors could put on the table.

“I see myself as a high school kid in that uniform,” McGrady said to Sportsnet. “That’s what they were recruiting against. I don’t know how you’re gonna win that. And that’s the truth.”

You can’t fault the Raptors for not trying. Then-GM Glen Grunwald said that the team offered McGrady a max contract following only his second season in the NBA, one that saw him average 9.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists off the bench.

That’s the sort of star potential they saw in the youngster right off the bat — the sort of potential that leapt off the screen whenever you saw his highlight slams, or took in the nights when he would fill up the stat sheet as a microwave scorer, or when you gave yourself the chance to imagine what a one-two punch he and his cousin Carter could turn into down the line.

But that star potential would end up going unfulfilled in Toronto, instead earning his first of seven All-Star selections while donning the blue, grey and white of the Magic.

In his final year in Toronto, the Raptors built a team around their two stars that McGrady called “a family” and “the perfect mix of basketball players.” Alongside the two youngsters was a cast of able veterans, from Dell Curry, Muggsy Bogues and Charles Oakley to Doug Christie and Antonio Davis — they looked like a team primed to compete and build something greater. But it wasn’t meant to be.

“That was a turning point in our franchise,” Grunwald told Sportsnet about McGrady’s departure. “That took us away from being a real contender, with Vince and Tracy, two superstars, to just a good team and one that’s gonna struggle to compete come the playoffs.”

They managed to remain competitive when the playoffs arrived, reaching the Eastern Conference Semifinals before eventually losing to the NBA Finals-bound Philadelphia 76ers in seven games. But the feeling that there could’ve been something more remained.

For years, fans have speculated that McGrady’s departure was rooted in his need to be in charge of his own team, to step out of the shadow of his cousin.

Alvin Williams, McGrady’s former Raptors teammate, still believes that it’s at the root of his departure.

“He wanted to be what Vince Carter was. He was chasing that,” Williams said in the documentary. “He was chasing the Kobe Bryants, the Vince Carters, he was chasing all those things which I think ignited his drive to be who he became.”

That alone could be reason enough. There’s something to be said about wanting to be your own man, to carry your own flag and to build your own legacy. In four years in Orlando, McGrady averaged 28.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists, skyrocketing to superstardom in a bigger role back in his hometown.

Though playoff success never followed, with the Magic getting eliminated in the first round three consecutive seasons, McGrady’s Hall of Fame legacy was cemented after reaching statistical highs out of Carter’s shadow.

Who’s to say if he would’ve turned into the scoring anomaly he became in Orlando, and who’s to say if the Raptors would’ve become tried and true championship contenders with the duo cementing themselves as faces of the young and blossoming franchise? Life has a funny way of getting in the way, and nature — despite how much a team can nurture — is hard to change.

Following a three-game sweep at the hands of the New York Knicks in the first round 2000 Eastern Conference playoffs, McGrady’s mind was made up. But even then, it was a hard pill to swallow for the youngster.

“I thought we were a better team, I thought we had the better player,” McGrady told Sportsnet, looking back on his final time walking off the Raptors’ court as a member of the team. “But yeah, I was disappointed that that was my last time walking off at that time, but I knew it was the last time.”

The second episode of Raptors Delight, The Rise, will air on Jan 29, following the Raptors game against the Washington Wizards on Sportsnet ONE.

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Raptors Delight: Part 1 — Starting the franchise

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