Is Tracy McGrady cursed or just accident prone?
It’s a fact that Tracy McGrady has never been fortunate enough to play an entire NBA season. He has been cursed not only with being traded off to another team every few years but he is known for getting injured countless times. Tracy’s ailing injuries and ill-fated life has prevented him from becoming an exceptional player which he had the potential to become. It has come to a point where critics say he might not even be considered in the Hall-of-Fame and or ever be able to win a NBA Championship title.
His unfortunate days began in the millennium, as Tracy finally stepped into the Orlando Magic’s arena and got to play alongside Grant Hill. Experts thought they were soon going to form the strongest duo in NBA, but sadly nobody really got to see that day. After only 4 matches in the 2010 playoffs, Tracy injured his ankle which then led the team to lose from the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round.
In the 2005-2006 season, Tracy faced extreme back spasms on multiple occasions and could not attend eight games. The same season Tracy played a game against the Denver Nuggets and right before half time he fell flat on the floor; medics came rushing in taking him out of the game on a stretcher due to a severe back spasm.
Next year in 2006-2007 season the injury prone player went through the same injury, in an interview he stated he is not as strong as he was because he cannot be as explosive during a game as before due to his back problem. Although when Yao Ming went down with a leg injury, Tracy was asked to get off the roster and step in. However the team lost to Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs, Tracy made his mark by averaging 24.6 points per game with 5.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.3 steals.
2007-2008 season was the worst year in Tracy’s life as he faced three injuries that year. In late 2007 McGrady injured his elbow and ankle due to which he had to leave the game on 10th December. He again returned back on to the court after a week and injured his knee; even then the devoted player continued playing with a noticeable limp but he was replaced shortly. The very same season he missed 11 consecutive games.
On 9th April 2008, Tracy was made to sit out because of his previous injures which left him devastated as he ended up missing sixteen games altogether that season. He announced on his website he would be going under surgery for his left knee and shoulder which had been padded throughout the playoffs and he would need at least three months to recuperate.
In the 2009 playoffs Tracy came back with a lot of hope, thinking he’d give a show stopping performance but alas the inevitable happened. Tracey injured his knee worse than before and could not proceed into the next round. Tracy told reporters he was back to square one, he said the pain was excruciating, it’s like I never had the surgery because "I'm feeling the same pain”.
Tracy McGrady was traded to the New York Knicks on 18th February 2010, since then there have been no speculations about McGrady being injured in any off-season games. Sadly the Knicks could not qualify for the playoffs but won a few games off-season. Tracy scored an astonishing number of 26 points with 4 rebounds, 5 assists in just 32 minutes in a game against the Oklahoma City. He played another game after a week against the Washington Wizards scoring 23 points.
So what’s next? What’s going to happen in the coming season? Well Tracy is a free agent as of now and is desperate for a title and rumours have it that National Basketball Leagues top two teams, the Boston Celitcs and the Los Angeles Lakers are trying to persuade Tracy to join them.
Tracy stated on 15th April 2010 that if he was to get injured again, he is most likely going to retire. His devoted fans say God forbid that happens, as the tremendous player has yet to win a championship let alone follow through to the next round in the playoffs since a long time.
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