Shout out to Oakley And Allen for digging this up.

This was from an NBA magazine back when Michael Jordan was with the Wizards and Tracy McGrady was putting up 30+ points a game the way Michael Jordan used to do in the 80s and 90s. In the letter, T-Mac, who was almost traded to the Bulls on draft night until MJ vetoed the deal, talks about how big of a fan he was as a kid, how they met when he was just 17-years old and how excited he is that MJ is back in the league.

The following are a few match-ups between the two, including an early one from 1998, when MJ scored 33 and hit the game-winner against T-Mac and the Raptors; McGrady posted an impressive almost triple-double with 12 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 5 blocks.

Five years later, around the time of the above letter, T-Mac faced off against MJ and the Wizards and blew up for 43 points in a loss. In another loss against MJ and the Wiz, Tmac scored 31 points and was outshined by MJ and his 28 point half. After the game, Tmac had a great quote about his idol:

"I thought it was one of those nights where he was going to get 50. Thank God, he stopped shooting, spreading the ball around.''