"MJ made the right call of really putting an ax to that" - Tracy McGrady on Michael Jordan not trading Scottie Pippen for him
Michael Jordan won six NBA championships alongside Scottie Pippen during their glory days with the Chicago Bulls. However, Jordan could have ended up playing with a young Tracy McGrady in the 1997-98 NBA season if an alleged draft trade involving Pippen had happened.
In an appearance on the 'Knuckleheads' podcast last month, McGrady said he was nearly traded to the Bulls on draft night in exchange for Pippen. The deal nearly happened till Jordan threatened to retire if the trade pushed through. McGrady said:
"Draft night, I almost got traded for Scottie Pippen. Jerry Krause called my agent and got me up 12 o'clock at night before the draft. Had me go to a secret location to take a physical. It was about to go down, but MJ made the call, 'Yo, if y'all do that, I'm retiring.' So he stopped that real quick," McGrady said.
The Bulls made the right decision at the end of the day, as Jordan and Pippen led the team to their sixth NBA championship that season. McGrady told Michael Scotto of Hoopshype in a recent interview that Chicago made the right decision in 1997. He said:
"I wasn't ready at that time to step up in that role. I don't want to be stupid about this. They made the right choice. MJ made the right call of really putting an ax to that, keeping that same group together, and went on to win another championship."
Tracy McGrady discussed nearly getting traded for Bulls star Scottie Pippen, what could’ve been if he stayed with Vince Carter in Toronto, how close Tim Duncan was to joining the Magic, Jeff Van Gundy stories, his @OBLhoops venture, and more on @hoopshype. hoopshype.com/lists/tracy-mc…
McGrady added that he almost signed with the Bulls in 2000 as a free agent before joining his hometown team, the Orlando Magic. T-Mac would have been the perfect heir to Jordan at the time. The Bulls were irrelevant in the 2000s till the arrival of Derrick Rose in 2008.
Michael Jordan never vetoed Scottie Pippen for Tracy McGrady trade
After the 'Knuckleheads' episode with T-Mac aired, Jordan vehemently denied through Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf that he was against the Pippen for McGrady trade. Reinsdorf told Chuck Swirsky of NBC Sports Chicago that he was the one who vetoed the trade in 1997. He said:
"After this podcast, I contacted Michael Jordan and asked if there was any truth and his reply to me was, 'B.S'. That's the case. I don't even know if Michael was aware of it. He certainly never communicated to us, never threatened to retire. The only reason why that trade didn't go through was I felt our fans wanted a sixth championsip," Reinsdorf said.
At the end of the day, the Bulls made the right decision to hold on to Pippen. Jordan led Chicago to a sixth and final title in 1998 before retiring for a second time. The move paid off for the Bulls, while McGrady blossomed into one of the best scorers in NBA history.