Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE
Since the 2009-10 NBA season, Tracy McGrady hasn’t been the superstar that he used to be, but the New York Knicks are showing interest.
The Knicks gave McGrady a workout on Thursday as the team tries to improve upon their 21st ranked three-point shooting from last season. The 33-year old former all-star is 33.8-percent from three-point range throughout his career.
While being a starter might be out of the question at this point in his career, McGrady shot 45.5-percent from three-point range this past season with the Atlanta Hawks. He also averaged just 5.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 52 games coming off of the bench.
McGrady is no longer the player that he was when he led the league in scoring in 2003 and 2004.
He had arthroscopic surgery performed on both his left shoulder and left knee in May 2008, but his averages dropped due to his knee struggling to recover from the surgery and he decided to have microfracture surgery on February 24, 2009. McGrady’s season ended as he was placed on injured reserve.
The following season, McGrady played just six more games with the Houston Rockets before they decide to trade him to the Knicks as part of three-team trade also including the Sacramento Kings.
The Knicks acquired McGrady and Sergio Rodriguez, the Kings obtained Carl Landry, Joey Dorsey and Larry Hughes and the Rockets landed Kevin Martin, Hilton Armstrong, Jordan Hill and Jared Jeffries with the Knicks’ 2012 first round pick and the right to swap first-round picks with the Knicks in 2011.
Reasoning behind the trade for the Knicks was to gain more than $30 million in salary cap room when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Amare Stoudemire, Joe Johnson and Chris Bosh were going to be free agents. The Knicks signed Stoudemire and then traded for Carmelo Anthony later that season.
McGrady made 24 starts with the Knicks following the trade, averaging 9.4 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists before signing a one-year contract with the Detroit Pistons and then Atlanta.
The San Antonio Spurs have also expressed interest in McGrady, but his reputation of having problems in terms of his ego doesn’t mix well with the players Greg Popovich usually coaches.
If McGrady were to sign with the Knicks, he would likely see playing time as a shooting guard while Ronnie Brewer and Iman Shumpert recover from surgery and at small forward to give Carmelo Anthony a rest. Steve Novak is a small forward, but also saw time at power forward last season and would likely form a rotation with Kurt Thomas and Chris Copeland to give Stoudemire a rest.
