The Orlando Magic have had several stars throughout the years, and they managed to upset one in particular.
Former Orlando Magic guard Tracy McGrady spent four seasons with the organization, and he recently sat down with his cohost, Vince Carter, on the Cousins with Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady podcast to discuss a time when he was not so happy with the Magic.
McGrady reflected on the time when Orlando chose to trade Mike Miller who, at the time, was a promising young shooting guard in his third season with the team. When McGrady learned about Miller being traded to the Memphis Grizzlies — which occurred on Feb. 19, 2003 — he expressed his frustration in dominant fashion on the court.
“I remember we traded Mike Miller,” McGrady said. “That's somebody I could rely on, on this team. No Grant Hill, so I feel like I could rely on Mike Miller.
“He's a young player, but he can shoot the rock. We have something here. But they proceeded to trade him. I was pissed.”
When Miller was traded, he was averaging 16.4 points per game, the second-most on the team behind McGrady, who was averaging 32.1 points. In return for Miller, the Magic received Drew Gooden and Gordan Giricek.
“So we have the Chicago Bulls coming in. Who was on the Chicago Bulls at that time? Got Jay Rose, Jay Will,” McGrady said. “I'm pissed. Got Drew Gooden coming in; rookie. I have Gordan Giricek, soft ass, coming in as a rookie. I'm about to take it out on Chicago. So I go out, I'm going crazy. And I put up 52 in three quarters.”
McGrady would end the night with 52 points on 15-32 shooting while going 6-13 from 3-point range in 33 minutes on the floor. Orlando ended up winning, 110-96, and McGrady felt that he could have scored more.
“I actually feel amazing tonight. I'm hitting everything,” McGrady said. “It was one of those nights, I'm like, ‘I'm about to do something crazy tonight.’
“And I had 52 in like three quarters and didn’t play the fourth quarter. And I'm looking like, damn, man. When you look back on it, and the way I felt that night, I could have scored another 15 or 20 points for sure.”
The 2002-03 season ended up being the highest-scoring season of McGrady’s 15-year career. Miller would go on to play five more seasons in Memphis after he was traded to the organization.
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