The 76ers nearly had one of the greatest backcourts in NBA history, but the deal fell apart partly because of Stephen A. Smith.

Let's travel back to 1999. Allen Iverson was three years in to his NBA career, and was a developing star. He'd finish as the NBA's scoring leader at the end of that 1999 season. Tracy McGrady was two years into his NBA career on the Raptors, but not quite at the star level he'd display in the years to come.

McGrady would leave the Raptors after that season as a free agent, but he was nearly dealt to the 76ers to team up with Iverson. In fact, the deal was already in place. Former 76ers GM Billy King admitted this back in a 2017 interview he did with 97.5 The Fanatic. Unfortunately his interview has been lost to the internet archives, but enough remnants remain for us to know he talked about it.

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We had a deal the night before where we were getting McGrady and we were giving up Larry Hughes and then Toronto got cold feet - @bkdefend — 975TheFanatic (@975TheFanatic) February 21, 2017

King also apparently brought this story up as an analyst on ESPN back in 2008. The only real record we have of that is a brief article by Real GM at the time that explained a few more details.

From Real GM:

Billy King, who is now an analyst for ESPN, revealed a trade he had agreed upon with the Raptors when he was GM of the Sixers. The Sixers would have sent Larry Hughes to Toronto for Tracy McGrady and a first round pick. Stephen A. Smith broke the trade and the Raptors ended up getting cold feet and the deal fell through.

For some reason the news of this trade made an appearance recently, and Stephen A. Smith confirmed it was true.

Yes this is true https://t.co/40WiC5p09I — Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) April 4, 2020

There's actually an online record of Smith's 1999 column where he revealed this information. At the time Smith worked for the The Philadelphia Inquirer where he mostly covered basketball. He was also a contributor for CNN/Sports Illustrated where he provided information of the failed McGrady trade.

From Smith in 1999:

76ers' coach Larry Brown said he isn't shopping second-year guard Larry Hughes, but it certainly seems that way. With Tracy McGrady a free agent this summer, the Toronto Raptors dangled their third-year forward to the Sixers for Hughes a little more than a week ago. The Sixers, surprisingly, made the talks more intriguing by asking for a first-round pick with McGrady. The Raptors are presently contemplating the offer.

As the reports above state, after Smith broke the story, the Raptors got cold feet and backed out of the deal. Toronto would have ended up with a solid player in Larry Hughes and a first round pick, but instead lost McGrady in free agency and got nothing.

Even worse, NBA fans were deprived of the potential backcourt of McGrady and Iverson on the Sixers. Both players were extremely young and about to enter their prime. This news also just adds to the list of McGrady trade deals that never happened. It was revealed in 2016 that McGrady was nearly traded for Scottie Pippen, but Michael Jordan vetoed the deal.