On one side of the scales for Tracy McGrady is playing time, more money and continuing to be a star in the Chinese basketball association. On the other, is remaining as a fringe veteran and somewhat of a novelty at the end of the bench if he decided to remain in the NBA, and someone is willing to sign him.

Last season McGrady ended the year in China averaging 25.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists for the Qingdao Eagles before returning to the NBA, being signed by the San Antonio Spurs to be a garbage time player during the playoffs, appearing six times for a total of 31 minutes without scoring a single point.

At 34, the chance of any team actually giving McGrady a place on its roster at this point of the season seems quite slim at best. It’s hard to see him fitting into any kind of role except for veteran leadership and experience, but teams rarely waste a space on that attribute alone if they don’t see the player being able to contribute in any other way.

McGrady showed no ability to put the ball on the floor last season in the playoffs even against weaker lineups, and simply took three pointer after three pointer. The Spurs fans gave him quite a warm welcome, but he never got the ball to fall in the net.

Going back to China seems to make more sense. He’ll be making more money there, and will be a star instead of barely getting 5-10 minutes a night, if he’ll even be included in the roster for most games. He wrote about it on a Chinese social media service: I’ll be making my decision on playing in the NBA or going back to CBA on my website coming soon.

While it’s always great to hope and strive to play with the best, McGrady doesn’t belong at the NBA’s level anymore, and it would mean a lot more to him and Chinese basketball if he gave up on his NBA career.

Image: Source