McGrady scored 41 points and totally controlled the game as the Orlando Magic cruised to a 101-84 victory over Payton and the Seattle SuperSonics, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.
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McGrady is leading the league in scoring at 32.5 points per game and carrying the Magic as Grant Hill works his way into shape.
"I'm just playing and I let that take care of itself," McGrady said. "I don't look at the scoreboard to see how many points I have. I just play and have fun while I'm doing that."
Payton is averaging 21.4 points and a league-best 10.4 assists, leading the surprising SuperSonics to the top of the powerful Pacific Division.
"Payton is one of my favorite guys in the league," Magic coach Doc Rivers said. "He's old as hell and he plays some amazing basketball and I still think he's a little underappreciated nationally."
The 6-9 McGrady turned this one into a rout. He made 16-of-29 shots, grabbed 12 rebounds and repelled every rally by the Sonics as the Magic improved to 2-2 on their season-high six-game road trip.
"He played at a great intensity level that never dropped," Rivers said. "That leadership is what Gary Payton does. Gary Payton has that tough, intense look and feel that resonates through the team. Tracy did that to our team tonight. Every time they made a run, Tracy was the guy that had an answer."
Payton had 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds, committing five turnovers.
McGrady scored nine points in the first quarter, keeping Orlando within 30-27. The Magic took the lead for good at 41-40 on a 3-pointer by Mike Miller with 4:14 to play in the second period.
That was part of a 20-7 surge that closed the quarter in which McGrady scored 11 points. He had 22 at halftime, helping Orlando to a 52-45 advantage.
"I think I realized how to take control of the game," McGrady said. "I think I've learned that now. ... I think if I continue to do that the whole season, we are going to win a lot of ballgames."
Payton's jumper cut the deficit to 52-50 early in the second half, but McGrady scored eight points as the Magic controlled the rest of the third quarter, rebuilding the lead to 80-63 entering the final period.
For good measure, McGrady opened the third quarter with six straight points, giving Orlando its largest lead. Seattle got no closer than 13 points thereafter.
"We didn't take the ball out of Tracy's hands early," McMillan said. "We allowed him to get hot before we started our double-teaming and our rotations. And you know when a guy is that hot, I'm sure they prepared at halftime for us to trap him."
Darrell Armstrong scored 19 points, Miller added 14 and Pat Garrity 11 for Orlando, which shot 51 percent (40-of-78), including 11-of-22 from the arc.
Hill, who missed Sunday's loss at Sacramento with an ankle injury, returned and had 10 points and seven rebounds in 31 minutes.
Rashard Lewis scored 23 points and Desmond Mason added 14 for Seattle, which is among the top-shooting teams in the league but fired at just 40 percent (32-of-80).
"They had guys knocking down shots left and right and we couldn't knock down the wide-open ones," Mason said. "We weren't in a rhythm."