Tracy McGrady says Bulls tried to trade Scottie Pippen for him before NBA Draft

Before being taken ninth overall in the 1997 NBA Draft, Tracy McGrady says he almost became a member of the Chicago Bulls had a blockbuster trade happen.

Thursday night, 60 college and international basketball players will get a chance to say they were drafted by a NBA franchise as the league holds their annual selection draft in Brooklyn, New York.

It was almost 19 years ago to the day (makes you feel old, doesn’t it) that Tracy McGrady was taken ninth overall by the Toronto Raptors. McGrady was one of the best players that year coming out of high school and was sought after by almost every team.

Though he was taken by Toronto, McGrady shared a story during Thursday’s episode of The Jump on ESPN that had basketball fans doing a double take: T-Mac was close to becoming a member of what was then the back-to-back champion Chicago Bulls in a blockbuster trade for one of their superstars…until another one stopped it:

Let that sink in for a second. If this is indeed true (and there really would be no reason for it not to be), McGrady could have been a part of one of the best teams in the history of the league as a rookie since the Bulls won another title in the 1997-98 season.

Tracy went on to play 16 seasons in the NBA, but never sniffed a championship during his time. Pippen, meanwhile, would leave the Bulls after the season (following Michael Jordan out the door), so maybe Chicago should have pulled off the trade and still at least had at least one super star following the title years.

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