My guess is that she is taking her recuperation year in the year prior to the Olympics, so that she can play in the WNBA in 2020 and show everyone why she needs to be on the Olympic team in a critical role. That's exactly what Diana did in 2015.
I was really hoping that when Maya announced the year off she was going to pursue a law degree. Maybe she still is, just taking a year to build her CV to apply.