T-Mac is coming back, after all.

Fourteen years after he left town to escape Vince Carter’s shadow, Tracy McGrady is getting honoured by the Toronto Raptors on Friday night as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations. McGrady, who’s in town for GM Masai Ujiri’s Giants of Africa fundraiser honouring Nelson Mandela, will be introduced to the crowd during the game. A highlight reel of his time in Toronto will also be shown.

While Carter drew an unexpected standing ovation during a video tribute last month at the Air Canada Centre, it’s unclear whether Raptors fans will be equally magnanimous with his distant cousin. Like Carter, McGrady was heavily booed in subsequent visits to Toronto after leaving the Raptors.

The talented, athletic small forward left Toronto in 2000 after the end of his three-year rookie contract. His departure left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Raptor fans, who had staged a vocal public campaign for McGrady to re-sign. McGrady, who had come off the bench in his first two seasons, had just become a starter, and together with Carter, helped lead the team to its first-ever playoff berth.

He went on to put superstar numbers with the Magic and the Rockets.

In a 2013 interview with the Star’s Dave Feschuk after retiring from the NBA, McGrady expressed regret for leaving what could have turned into a contender (in the 2000-01 season, the Raptors fell one game short of the Eastern Conference final).

“In hindsight, looking back, obviously I wish I had stayed in Toronto,” McGrady said. “There’s no doubt we could have contended for a championship. I think about that often.”

At games towards the end of the 1999-2000 season, “come back T-Mac” signs could be seen all around the Air Canada Centre. Some fans even painted the message on their chests.

But it was all for naught, as McGrady instead signed with the Orlando Magic, partly to escape a northern winter, but mostly to go to a team where he could become the undisputed go-to guy.

That was something that was never going to happen in Toronto, as long as Carter was around.

McGrady signed a six-year, $67.5 million (U.S.) deal with the Magic, who had also recently obtained perennial all-star Grant Hill.

While it wasn’t quite on par with “The Decision” (LeBron James’ heavily criticized TV announcement when he left Cleveland for Miami), Raptors fans were almost as bitter about McGrady’s departure. He was booed mercilessly in subsequent visits to town.

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