Tracy McGrady was once reluctant to believe that he deserved a spot in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame but on the night of his induction, McGrady stood on stage at Springfield's Symphony Hall and confidently declared that he belongs alongside the game's greatest players.

"Yes, I deserve to be here," said McGrady assuredly during a powerful nine-minute induction speech that described his lowly beginnings and rise to the top.

McGrady, a seven-time All-Star, and two-time scoring champ recalled the story of being out with his wife, CleRenda, in February when this year's finalists were announced. She urged him to look in the mirror and say he deserved to be a Hall of Famer, but McGrady was hesitant.

"My wife knew something about me in that elevator that I had yet to admit and say out loud," said McGrady, who has served as an ESPN analyst since 2016. "There was a reason she wanted me to look myself in that mirror and say I deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. And there was also a reason why I couldn't do it.

"I had a zillion thoughts in my mind why I didn't deserve to be here. I started thinking of all these NBA greats, who had accomplished so many great things. Then I began to compare myself to them. It was way too easy to focus on what you don't have and what you didn't accomplish. But I'm grateful for those people that saw in me and believed in me, maybe when I always didn't believe in myself."

McGrady also became emotional while telling the story of attending an Adidas basketball camp in 1996 as an unknown high schooler. In a camp that was headlined by Lamar Odom, McGrady was given jersey No. 175, reflecting his recruiting status. He later went on to dominate the camp and make a name for himself.

"The last guy to enter this camp and you give me that jersey: 175," said McGrady, who then turned away from the crowd while quickly collecting himself. "Nobody had a clue who Tracy McGrady was. [Adidas executive Sonny Vaccaro] gave me that platform and I played against the best players in the world at that time. I left that camp the No. 1 player in the nation, 175 to No. 1."

McGrady was the headliner of this year's 11-person class, which also included former UConn, WNBA star & Olympic gold medalist Rebecca Lobo, University of Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self, Notre Dame women's basketball coach Muffet McGraw, former Harlem Globetrotters Mannie Jackson and Zack Clayton, EuroLeague star Nikos "Nick" Galis, Texas high school basketball coach Robert Hughes, former ABA champion George McGinnis, "Father of the Final Four" Tom Jernstedt, and longtime Chicago Bulls general manager Jerry Krause who was inducted posthumously.

Source: espn.com