Magic Throwback: Tracy McGrady's Franchise-High 62-Point Game

With 62 days remaining ahead of the tipoff of the 2024-25 NBA regular season, we look back at one of the greatest performances in Orlando Magic history: Tracy McGrady's 62-point outburst in a win over the Washington Wizards.

Tracy McGrady scored 62 points in a win over the Washington Wizards on March 10, 2004, setting a Magic franchise high and career-best number for McGrady. / Orlando Magic

Regular season basketball for the Orlando Magic is just over two months away.

Not included in the opening night slate of two nationally televised games, Orlando opens its season by visiting its south Florida neighbor, the Miami Heat, on Wednesday, October 23. Until the team's media day and training camp get going or action returns to the floor in the preseason, there's only past basketball to discuss.

With the Magic's first official tipoff of the season 62 days away, perhaps there's no better time to look back on Tracy McGrady's 62-point performance – the single-game high in franchise history across 35 completed seasons of Magic basketball.

McGrady, who spent four seasons with the Magic from 2000-04 in his Hall of Fame career, was a four-time All-Star and a two-time scoring champion while representing the Magic. He won a Most Improved Player award his first season in Orlando and was an All-NBA performer in all four years – placing him among the elites of volume scorers In the history of Magic basketball.

That historic March evening, an announced attendance of just 12,538 inside the now-closed TD Waterhouse Centre was treated to McGrady and Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas' dueling offensive eruptions. Arenas scored 40 points by himself that evening, but it wasn't enough to keep pace with McGrady's career-best showcase in a 108-99 win. The game celebrated its 20-year anniversary on March 10 earlier this year.

McGrady finished the game 20/37 from the field, 17/26 from the free throw line and 5/14 from three. He certainly tired over the duration of his 46 minutes played, shooting 9/22 after the halftime break.

McGrady was the 17th played in NBA history at the time to eclipse 60 points in a single game and became just the sixth player in NBA history with a 60-point, 10-rebound, five-assist game to his name. Only Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Rick Barry, Michael Jordan and David Robinson preceded him in doing so.

The scoring outburst over a hapless Wizards team was one of a scarce few bright spots in a forgettable season of the Magic's own. Partially for that reason, the game still eats at him a bit. It also, as he's well aware, could've been more.

"My teammates came to me and told me, 'Get 60,'" McGrady told the Washington Post that evening over 20 years ago. "Then they told me, 'Get 70.' I was going for 70. If I would've made my free throws I would have had it."

McGrady dealt with more than his fair share of injuries during his illustrious NBA career, but the four-year stretch with the Magic was in the middle of a six-year stretch where he played at least 67 games every year – a mark he'd only surpass twice otherwise over his 16 years in pro ball.

The 21-61 finish for the Magic that season led to McGrady's exit that offseason, who along with Juwan Howard, Tyronn Lue and Reece Gains, was traded to the Houston Rockets for a package of Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato. The league-worst mark helped net the No. 1 overall draft pick for the Magic in the 2004 NBA Draft, in which the Magic selected Dwight Howard.

Howard certainly has an argument for greatest player in Orlando's franchise history, but McGrady's impact should not be lost either. TMac is the Magic's all-time leader in offensive and total box plus-minus (by a wide margin), usage rate, points per game average and minutes per game. He's second in total value over replacement player, offensive win shares and player efficiency rating. This all comes without being anywhere near the top 10 in games played for Orlando, too.

Point being, McGrady's showing over 20 years ago, if everything else already hasn't, should certify him as an icon in Magic history – regardless of how short his stint with the team was.

He'll likely always be remembered fondly in downtown Orlando.

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