After days of speculation, it has now been confirmed that newly acquired Rockets Forward Trevor Ariza will be rocking McGrady’s No.1. jersey, while T-Mac will switch his uniform to No. 3. Initially I thought T-Mac picked “No. 3″ to reflect how many minutes he’ll play before limping off the court, but we’re told it’s for a good cause.

The Chronicle says he made the move to promote his charity efforts in Darfur:

Rockets guard Tracy McGrady will change his uniform number to No. 3 to promote his “3 points Darfur” initiative, with an announcement expected this week.

Oh, and they made sure to point out that this had nothing to do with Ariza:

McGrady put in the paperwork for the uniform change midway through last season and had received league approval. He was making the switch to his high school number to bring attention to his Darfur Dream Team campaign and 3 Points documentary,

Newly acquired Trevor Ariza will wear No. 1 but could not show the uniform at the news conference last week while details of McGrady’s uniform change were completed.

Let me get this straight: McGrady suddenly decided to change his jersey number to promote a documentary he shot in 2007? Yeah, that makes sense. If anything, I think he just pulled a Kobe and is hoping to kick off the second half of his career with a fresh start. Nothing wrong with that. I wish him all the best wherever he decides to go.