The return of the NBA on NBC will place cousins and ex-Toronto Raptors Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady on the same team again.
Keep the Keatons. Bid bye to the Bankses. This latest NBC family could be one of the peacock’s best combinations yet.
The return of the “NBA on NBC” is keeping it in the family, as cousins Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady will be part of the main studio coverage group when the Association returns this fall. They’ll be working with fellow new-century legend of the game, Carmelo Anthony, and host Maria Taylor when the season gets underway, creating a reunion of Toronto Raptors entrants who enjoyed early success on NBC’s airwaves.
“We know so much about each other, the chemistry between us was, it was just there. It’s right for us to to be on a panel together, talking about that the new age of what the game is today,” McGrady said about the collaboration during a network showcase in Stamford, CT, warmly recalling Carter’s showcase during the 2000 All-Star festivities in Oakland (which were partly broadcast on NBC). “This guy right here put on a show for everybody in just one of those memorable moments on the network. Starting from my childhood, back in the 90s, was like the golden era of of the sport and, 35 years later, we’re still reliving those moments, and they still resonate today.”
McGrady was drafted No.9 overall by the Raptors out of Mount Zion Christian Academy in 1997, while Carter came to Ontario a year later in a draft-day trade with Golden State, one that swapped his rights with those of fellow North Carolina alum Antawn Jamison. They would play two seasons together before McGrady moved to the Orlando Magic in 2000.
First look at the brand new NBA on NBC and Peacock studio! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/TOxY7vzw1O
— NBA on NBC and Peacock (@NBAonNBC) October 8, 2025
Together, the two oversaw the Raptors’ first sustained success, with the team’s playoff debut against the New York Knicks broadcast on NBC. Though NBC left the coverage game in 2002, the familial duo proved to be mainstays on the new-century circuit, earning countless accolades in their shared years despite their lack of a championship.
The two are now back on the same team, donning suits rather than jerseys this time. The group’s chemistry was already apparent during their studio panel: McGrady, for example, expressed mock outrage over the fact he had to once again listen to Anthony’s prediction that one of his former clubs, the New York Knicks, would finish atop the Eastern Conference.
McGrady, Carter Raptors Teammates from 1998-2000
Nonetheless, “training camp,” as Carter called it, is still in full swing, not on the hardwood but on the polished Stamford studio floor. Carter, McGrady, and more are more or less shadowing NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” group as it prepares for its Oct. 22 doubleheader debut, which opens with the Oklahoma City Thunder opening its original championship defense against the Houston Rockets.
Carter can’t envision going through it with anyone else.
“It’s always great to do with your family,” Carter, who has two years and a few months on McGrady, declared. “We know each other. He knows what makes me tick, he knows how to push my buttons and get on my nerves, and vice versa. But one thing that I know is that he’s learning through this process … When you go through training camp, you learn your teammates, you learn the offense, you learn the concepts. I think we’re doing that together to uplift us all.”
Throwback to some rare footage of Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter. Imagine if these two stayed teammates pic.twitter.com/cnqEJMQDFo
— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 11, 2019
“We now are a team that’s looking to win the championship on this side of the wall, and you only do that if we all come together,” Carter continued. “We understood we had to do it together and uplift each other. So that’s what I’m looking forward to the most, because I know who these guys [are], having to guard them, playing against them, playing with them. But, at the same time, we all know we need each other to be great.”
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
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