Which begs the question: Does he belong in The Hall?
McGrady himself thinks so.
“Just look at the numbers,” he said. “Look at my numbers for 11 seasons before I had my knee injury and then look at some of the guys in the Hall of Fame. Look at their numbers.”
Statistically speaking, McGrady has a case. For his career, the once prolific shooting guard is averaging 19.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
Only 14 other players in NBA history have matched such averages for their career. Of those 14, nine are current Hall of Famers, one is a (likely) future Hall of Famer (Chris Webber), three are active (Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade), while the other is Jamal Mashburn.
McGrady himself was specifically talking about the first 11 years of his career, in which he averaged 22.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.3 steals per game. Just seven other players were able to put up such marks for the first 11 years of their career.
Their names? Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, LeBron James, Rick Barry, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Webber.