It must be good to be Tracy McGrady. The Rockets' forward has been an NBA All-Star six times, and lead the league in scoring twice (a whopping 32.1 point per game in 2003, making him the youngest player since Bob McAdoo in '74-75 to notch 30-plus ppg), yet he's never been immortalized on the cover of an NBA Live box. That changes this year, with Live 07, and be prepared to see his face all over the freakin' place, since live is straddling the current- and next-gen platforms, plus portables.

"I've always looked upon the EA Sports athletes as fan favorites so I'm honored to be named this year's NBA Live 07 cover athlete and join the EA Sports family," gushed McGrady in a perfectly quote-worthy sound bite (you'd think he didn't even say it!). "Each year there is tremendous anticipation around the league as players wait to see themselves in NBA Live and I feel like this year my virtual self plays more like me than ever before. This is as close to playing in the NBA as you get."

Though we'd normally say those are awfully lofty claims, we -- no, wait, those are lofty claims, but EA's rather boooooring presentation at Sony's PlayStation press conference this E3 did make it clear they were trying to do something special with the Live engine going into the next generation. Better AI, the much-vaunted Total Freestyle Control system, Dynasty Mode, and the All-Star Weekend all included, there certainly is the potential to bring the digital game closer to the real-life version.

McGrady's cover status comes on the heels of him pulling down 6.5 boards, offering 4.8 assists and scoring 24.4 points per game this year (it's the sixth year he's locked in 24+ ppg), and he joins a long list of athletes that have had sweaty poses thrown onto the cover of NBA Live boxes. For those curious, here's the running tab of North American pros since the series started:

NBA LIVE Cover Athletes
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NBA LIVE 07 - Tracy McGrady, Houston Rockets
NBA LIVE 06 - Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
NBA LIVE 2005 - Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets
NBA LIVE 2004 - Vince Carter, Toronto Raptors
NBA LIVE 2003 - Jason Kidd, New Jersey Nets
NBA LIVE 2002 - Steve Francis, Houston Rockets
NBA LIVE 2001 - Kevin Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves
NBA LIVE 2000 - Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
NBA LIVE 1999 - Antoine Walker, Boston Celtics
NBA LIVE 1998 - Tim Hardaway, Miami Heat
NBA LIVE 1997 - Mitch Richmond, Sacramento Kings
NBA LIVE 1996 - Shaquille O'Neal, Orlando Magic
NBA LIVE 1995 - New York Knicks vs Houston Rockets

And now you know!