Tracy McGrady opens up about his luxurious $19 million jet
Tracy McGrady shared the reasoning behind getting his own jet
Joe Camporeale - USA TODAY Sports
NBA players are known for enjoying the rewards of their hard work. They earn millions playing the game they love, and most of them make the most out of their money.
One player no exception to this is Hall-of-Famer Tracy McGrady, who earned a bit over 160 million dollars in total salary (excluding sponsorships and endorsements) during his NBA career. So what did he spend a lot of his money on? Nothing big, just a stellar and luxurious $19 million dollar private jet.
A luxury like no other
McGrady invested in a private jet because of his fear and anxiety of flying commercial. He was so traumatized by the 9-11 tragedy that he never rode on a commercial flight until he had to go to Puerto Rico with Team USA. T-Mac also decided to buy a private jet because first, he could afford it, and second, it was convenient for him and his family’s lifestyle.
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“It was a lot, it was $19 million. So, what happened was that I had a business manager who knew how to structure those deals for me. We talked about it and we made sure we made financial sense to do something like that and I was like ‘Sh*t, let’s go for it.' I went to Kansas to pick out and see how I wanted the jet to look like,”
Tracy McGrady, Knuckleheads with Quentin Richardson & Darius Miles
It seems McGrady put a lot of thought into the jet he wanted as he said it was one of the best traveling rides he’s ever been in. The jet in question is a Falcon 200 jet that corporations usually use.
“My jet number was TM 863863, it was the area code from where I’m from, and then I had T- Mac on the plate. So yeah, what was crazy is I had the same pilots who I rotated and a couple of stewardesses who knew what I liked. My kids are younger so they were loving it. They loved my kids. When I got on the plane, they had everything lined up for me,” McGrady said.
Worth every penny
Aside from leisure, McGrady also admitted that he used his jet instead of riding with his teammates on the team plane. Maybe it was because he was scared to fly commercial or that he wanted to make use of his hard-earned money, but whatever it is, at least the jet wasn’t just lying around.
“I had my own plane. What can I say? I was making a lot of money,” McGrady once said on ESPN.
Oh, how nice it must be to be famous, rich, and own a $19 million jet.
