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Texas two-step for Shaq, T-Mac? 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 down and brace themselves for this one. The coming days could evolve into what would assuredly be a Magic fan's worst nightmare. Could Tracy McGrady (1) and Shaquille O'Neal be sharing the ball next season? By Peter Cosgrove, AP 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 out of Orlando. But a team source beat him to the punch Friday, admitting that McGrady had asked out of Orlando and that a blockbuster deal would likely come sometime 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 the negotiations publicly until a deal is reached. "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. I have seen and heard a lot of things out there but not much of it has been accurate." 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 after next season. Under NBA rules, the Mavericks would have to send contracts within 15% 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 any of those players other than Nowitzki. "It's news to me," Cuban wrote of the McGrady-Shaq plan in e-mail Saturday night. "I can only hope." A more likely trade option for McGrady and the Magic could be with Indiana. The Pacers have an overflow of talent at the two forward positions and are in great need of the scoring that McGrady could provide. McGrady has won the last two NBA scoring titles, averaging 32.1 points in 2002-03 and 28 points this past season. Also, the Pacers also are hungry to reload after getting beaten in the Eastern Conference Finals by eventual champion 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 all of sports and was originally against McGrady coming to Orlando when he signed with the Magic in 2000. Tellem, who favored Chicago over Orlando in 2000, could be pushing now for McGrady to move. "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 nonfactor of a meeting." Weisbrod said he expects the McGrady matter to be resolved by Thursday's NBA Draft, when the Magic will pick first overall. He said it will have no bearing on whether the Magic select Emeka Okafor or Dwight Howard with the No. 1 pick. Okafor worked out in Orlando on Friday, while Howard did the same Saturday. If there is an urgency to get the trade done, it would likely rule the Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns out of the mix. Because of base-year compensation 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. "Now, I can't say that I would expect that to be public information," he said of a potential trade. "I have every intention of knowing where that's going when we make these (draft) decisions." 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." McGrady disenchanted with Magic The Magic have known since December that McGrady, a native of nearby Auburndale, was leaning toward leaving his hometown team. The team thought it could convince McGrady to stay by rebuilding the roster this summer by adding the top pick in Thursday's draft and the healthy returns of Grant Hill and Pat Garrity. But McGrady, disenchanted with the direction of the team, has informed the Magic that he is not willing to commit to the franchise beyond next season. He can opt out of the seven-year, $93 million contract that he signed in 2000 after next season. Adding to the drama is the possibility that Juwan Howard and Drew Gooden could also possibly be moved in the coming days. The Magic are expected to hold on to the top pick in Thursday's draft and select either college Player of the Year Emeka Okafor or Atlanta teen Dwight Howard. "From just the (GMs) who send unsolicited faxes and leave unsolicited messages, there are enough things out there that will be better than OK in a trade," Weisbrod said early Friday. "So I don't think us doing a bad deal is an option. We wouldn't do a bad deal." McGrady has grown increasingly disenchanted with the franchise the past three years because he felt that the talent around him was substandard. Orlando struggled through a dismal 21-61 season, one that included losing streaks of 19 and 13 games. The Magic took an enormous leap of faith on McGrady in the summer of 2000, giving him a massive contract based on his potential. McGrady was expected to team with fellow swingman Hill, but that plan was wrecked by Hill's broken left ankle. Hill has played just 47 games the past four seasons and has had four surgeries to repair the fracture in his ankle. McGrady, meanwhile, blossomed into the NBA's most lethal offensive weapon in Orlando. He averaged 26.8 points his first season in Orlando and got the Magic to the playoffs. He poured in 25.6 points in 2001-02, but the season ended with a first-round playoff loss to the Charlotte Hornets. McGrady's finest season came in 2002-03 when he led the NBA in scoring at 32.1 points a game and finished fourth in MVP voting. He became just the seventh player in NBA history to average at least 30 points, six rebounds and five assists a game for a season. But his season ended in frustration yet again when the Magic squandered a 3-1 lead in the playoffs and lost to the Detroit Pistons. McGrady was named captain of the Magic prior to this past season, but he admittedly struggled in that role. He was unable to shake the Magic out of their doldrums following a 19-game losing streak that began following the second game of the season. He mentioned that he had thoughts of retiring two weeks into the season, but eventually backed off those ideas. The season was one of the most volatile in franchise history. Head coach Doc Rivers was fired 11 games into the season and long-time general manager John Gabriel was reassigned in March. The highlight of the season for McGrady came on March 10 when he poured in 62 points against the Washington Wizards. It was the most points in the NBA in 10 years. Of the six 50-point games in the 15-year history of the Magic, McGrady owns four of them. And now McGrady is the second franchise player in eight years to leave the Magic. O'Neal bolted for the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent in the summer of 1996. Prior to Friday's meeting with McGrady, DeVos spoke of potentially talking McGrady out of leaving. He had hoped that the star guard would believe in the franchise the way it believed in him four years when it gave him the $93 million deal. "We're building this team and Tracy is going to be on it as we put it together," DeVos predicted early in the day. "But Tracy's not the controller of this team."