T-Mac to Philly, What Could Have Been…

Normally I’m all for details on trades that never happened coming out. I love thinking about the what ifs in sports. Today though, with everything going on, I could have used without this little reminder Stephan A Smith dropped earlier. Stephan A decided to ruin every Sixers fan day by quote tweeting a tweet talking about a deal in 1999 that was in place between the Sixers and Raptors. The deal would have sent Tracy McGrady and a 1st rounder to Philly in exchange for Larry Hughes. Toronto apparently got cold feet after Stephan A broke the news on the deal and backed out.




Nice little gut punch to start the day for Sixers fans courtesy of Stephan A Smith. Obviously looking back on that deal today it would have been a no brainer and would have been one of the most one sided deals in NBA history. Larry Hughes was the 8th pick the year before this deal was on the table while McGrady hadn’t taken the league by storm yet. Hughes was out of Philly by the deadline in 2000 in a three team deal that sent him and Billy Owens to Golden State and Bruce Bowen to Chicago while the Bulls sent over Toni Kukoc. Hughes bounced around the league for a while and became a decent role player for teams, with a career average of 14.1 a night. While McGrady went on to be one of the better and iconic players of the 2000’s. What could have been for the Sixers, T-Mac and AI in the same back court in the 2000’s, you can’t tell me that team doesn’t get one ring.  Imagine if Iverson had Tracy McGrady to run with instead of Aaron Mckie and Eric Snow. Even if they couldn’t bring home a title, this duo would have been incredible to watch. Another reason to be mad at Billy King twenty years later for not being able to build a team around Iverson. Really happy Stephan A decided to bring this one back up and make us all suffer again.