McGrady, Shaq going to Dallas Mavs?
Magic star wants to play on same team as O´Neal
BY JOHN DENTON
FLORIDA TODAY
ORLANDO -- Magic fans already staggered by the declaration that Tracy McGrady has likely played his last game in Orlando might want to sit and brace themselves for this one.
The coming days could evolve into what would assuredly be a Magic fan´s worst nightmare.
McGrady, expected to be traded any day now by the Magic, wants to play with Shaquille O´Neal next season. O´Neal, of course, jilted the Magic eight years ago when he shockingly left as a free agent for Los Angeles.
Apparently, it was no coincidence that on the same day sources claimed McGrady has no plans of returning to the Magic and wants to be traded that O´Neal also told reporters that he wants out of Los Angeles. McGrady and O´Neal are part-time neighbors in suburban Orlando and friends to the point that McGrady often refers to Shaq as " my big brother." Now, the two have discussed in depth a plan that would unite them in Dallas while playing for owner Mark Cuban.
" We talk all the time about it," McGrady told FLORIDA TODAY on Saturday. " Me and the Big Fella are trying to get to Dallas together now."
McGrady said he didn´t want to get into a war of words with the Magic and wasn´t ready yet to officially disclose his desire to be traded. But a team source beat him to the punch Friday, admitting McGrady had asked out of Orlando and that a blockbuster deal would likely come this week.
Magic general manager John Weisbrod didn´t deny the report, but also refused to confirm it. He and McGrady´s Los Angeles-based agent, Arn Tellem, have agreed not to discuss negotiations publicly until a deal is done.
" I certainly will not confirm that T-Mac´s going to be traded," Weisbrod said. " But I´m going to continue to say on T-Mac what I´ve said for the last month, which is that Arn and I are in discussions. We were in discussions late ( Friday) night and we were in discussions early ( Saturday) morning. We will be in discussions ( Saturday) afternoon."
It´s a long shot whether McGrady and O´Neal can actually play in Dallas together. O´Neal is scheduled to make $27.7 million next season, while McGrady is due $14.4 million. Both can opt out of their contracts following next season.
Under NBA rules, the Mavericks would have to send contracts within 15 percent of O´Neal´s and McGrady´s back to the Lakers and Magic to make the trades work. The Mavs have plenty of big-salaried players -- Antoine Walker ( $14.6 million), Michael Finley ( $14.6 million), Dirk Nowitzki ( $12.5 million), Antawn Jamison ( $11.3 million) and Tariq Abdul-Wahad ( $6.7 million) -- but it´s debatable whether the Lakers or Magic would want anyone other than Nowitzki.
" It´s news to me," Cuban wrote of the McGrady-Shaq plan in an e-mail Saturday. " I can only hope."
Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Friday that " going into this offseason, it was our plan to be very active."
A more likely trade option for the Magic could be with Houston or Indiana. Indiana was thought to have the edge, but the Rockets have apparently crept into the lead for McGrady´s services.
Weisbrod said he expects the McGrady matter to be resolved by Thursday´s draft, when the Magic will pick first overall.
One scenario is that the Magic will work out a trade with Houston or Phoenix, but not announce it for another two weeks. Because of base-year compensation contract rules, Houston point guard Steve Francis and Phoenix forward Shawn Marion can´t be traded until after July 1. The All-Star players would likely have to be included in any deal the Magic works with those teams. Weisbrod even hinted that a deal might go down this week, but it would not be public until after July 1.
" Yes, I expect to know," Weisbrod said when asked if he expects resolution in the McGrady matter before the draft. " I can´t say that I would expect that to be public information. I have every intention of knowing where that´s going when we make these ( draft) decisions."
The Pacers, meanwhile, have an overflow of talent at the two forward positions and are in great need of the scoring that McGrady, the league´s two-time scoring champ, could provide. Also, the Pacers also are hungry to reload after getting beaten in the Eastern Conference Finals by Detroit.
Indiana might be willing to offer a package that includes small forward Ron Artest, the league´s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, and promising power forwards Al Harrington and Jonathan Bender. Because their three salaries equal $19 million, the Magic might have to include either Juwan Howard or Drew Gooden to make the trade work.
" I had some conversations ( with Weisbrod)," Pacers CEO/President Donnie Walsh admitted to the Indianapolis Star on Saturday night. " They listened and they were going to talk to McGrady and then they were going to get back to me. They haven´t gotten back to me. We have interest and we talked about several players. That´s where it was left."
Another factor in a potential Indiana-Orlando trade is that McGrady and Pacers´ Jermaine O´Neal are close friends. Both are represented by Tellem, as is Pacers veteran guard Reggie Miller. Tellem is one of the most powerful agents in sports and was originally against McGrady coming to Orlando when he signed in 2000. Tellem, who favored Chicago then, could be pushing now for McGrady to move on.
" I don´t know that I get a sense of Arn´s personal opinion," Weisbrod said. " Obviously, Arn´s responsibility is to represent the kid and I think obviously the kid´s been all over the board emotionally. It´s a tough thing and it´s understandable, he´s a little inconsistent but that´s pretty understandable. That´s a big decision, he loves Orlando and he´s a young kid. I think now Arn´s job is to stay close to him and make sure he´s representing him however he feels that day."
McGrady said his session with Magic owner Rich DeVos on Friday " was a great, great meeting. We´re still working to try and get on the same page." But Weisbrod referred to the meeting as " window dressing" and " a non-factor of a meeting."
Weisbrod was also quick to shoot down the notion that O´Neal might play for the Magic again. He played in Orlando from 1992-96 before bolting for the Lakers. He said he will likely talk to Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak in the coming days, but an O´Neal return was highly unlikely.
" Obviously, we´ve gotten a lot of contact from various places on that subject and I would expect that I would hear from Mitch on that. When we talk about Shaq moving, they know in his mind and his heart this is the natural place he would want to go," Weisbrod said. " But if you look at the financial piece of that, it´s almost an impossibility.
" He´s owed $58 million over the next two years and he´s got an opt-out at the end of next year. So conceivably with that opt-out he can ( play in Orlando), but short of that, it´s pretty close to mathematically impossible. We´d be fielding a roster of seven guys."
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