Former NBA Star Tracy McGrady in Favor of Cancelling 2019-20 Season

Right now, the 2019-2020 NBA Playoffs should be underway and in-play. Unfortunately, we're dealing with entirely different circumstances in the basketball world this season. Early on last month, Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for COVID-19.

The Jazz star's diagnosis left NBA Commissioner Adam Silver with no choice but to suspend the season indefinitely. Here we are, over a month since the unthinkable happened, and the 2019-2020 season is still on a hiatus.

Will the season continue once again? That's the most important question right now that simply cannot be answered by anybody in charge. While Commissioner Silver refuses to call it quits on this year prematurely -- he still cannot guarantee basketball will be back either. There's hope that by early May, the NBA will make its decision.

But right now, the league will have no choice but to play it by ear. Patience may be wearing thin for players who want closure on the season, but on the other end, there could be players who are open to the idea of just canceling the season and looking forward to the 2020-2021 schedule.

Recently, former NBA star Tracy McGrady offered up his opinion on the situation. Surprisingly, McGrady would prefer it if the NBA canceled the season instead of rushing back in hopes of crowning a champion.

"As a former player, I would be in favor of calling the season off," McGrady said on Monday. "I think there's too much going into having to start the season up. As a player, I don't have the facilities to stay in the tip-top shape that I need to be in because everything is closed. Even when I get back into the facilities to be able to train, it's going to take some time for me to get back into basketball shape."

NBA Trainers and executives have reportedly been working on a 25-day return plan, if and when the NBA gets permission to start back up again. After losing a few months of intense training, though, 25 days might make it tough for players to get back into shape fully. McGrady believes at that point; players would be rushing to get back into shape, which could lead to dangerous results for some.

If that's the case, then he believes the NBA should just call it quits on this year, and gear up to start fresh for next season. While that could very much be an option later on down the line, the NBA is still holding out hope to conclude this season with a champ.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_

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