05:23 PM CDT on Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Tracy McGrady isn’t leaving Orlando any time soon.

Although at least seven teams are serious about acquiring the two-time NBA scoring champion, there won’t be a trade before Thursday night’s draft.

“We’re certainly not going to rush anything,” Magic general manager John Weisbrod said Wednesday.

McGrady’s seven-year, $93 million contract has an opt-out clause that can be exercised after next season, and he has said he will leave unless the team dramatically improves. But the Magic have vowed to trade the four-time All-Star rather than let him go without receiving compensation.

That happened to the Magic in 1996 when Shaquille O’Neal signed with the Los Angeles Lakers.

If McGrady is traded, he would be the fourth defending scoring champion in NBA history to be dealt, and the first since the Buffalo Braves sent Bob McAdoo to the New York Knicks in 1976.

The Magic also own the No. 1 draft pick, and Weisbrod is patiently sifting through offers for that as well.

“These are the two biggest chips he have to use to improve a team that was pretty bad last year,” Weisbrod said. “There’s no time pressure. We’re going about it as methodically as we can.”

Orlando is coming off a 21-61 season, its worst in 12 years. That was the season before the Magic selected O’Neal with the first pick in the 1992 draft.

Earlier this week, many league sources said McGrady was very close to being sent to Houston in a multiplayer trade. The Rockets also would have received Juwan Howard and Reece Gaines while shipping out Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato.

But Weisbrod said that deal is far from certain and Orlando is still weighing its options.

He also dismissed reports that the Magic-Rockets trade was derailed by Francis’ dismay about going to the team with the NBA’s worst record.

“Taking a couple of calls from Steve’s people, his main issue is frustration with Houston over, I guess, how he perceives they’ve handled it or commitments they’ve made to him in the past,” Weisbrod said. “It was unfortunate the kid was put in this position because he is asked all these questions that there was some deal immediately pending and he was in it.

“That wasn’t fair to him (because) that certainly wasn’t the case.”

Francis’ agent, Jeff Fried, did not return repeated calls for comment Wednesday.