Orlando Magic guard Tracy McGrady was placed on the injured list Wednesday with left knee tendinitis and will miss the rest of the season.

McGrady had missed the team's past two games with the tendinitis.

"It just isn't getting any better," McGrady said. "The organization doesn't want to me to rush it, and I don't want to rush it. I just don't want to put pressure on myself to try and come back too soon. We're just being cautious."

Even though he will miss the team's final seven games, he is very likely going to win the NBA's scoring title with a 28 ppg average.

The next closest player is Sacramento's Peja Stojakovic, who is averaging 24.7 points per game.

The Magic are a league worst 19-56 this season.

Eight games remain until an offseason in which general manager John Paxson hopes to make major changes.

Meanwhile, Eddie Robinson is rooted to the bench, Tyson Chandler's role is diminished and Jamal Crawford rarely plays fourth-quarter minutes anymore.

These playing-time issues could hurt whatever trade value these players have. But if that's the case, management isn't letting on.

From Day 1 of his tenure, coach Scott Skiles has been resolute in giving playing time to those he believes work and play the hardest. In the fourth quarter of Monday's loss in Miami, that meant 12 minutes for Ronald Dupree, 11 for Jannero Pargo and eight for formerly forgotten man Marcus Fizer.

"I'm simply trying to find any group of guys who play with intensity," Skiles said.

Skiles also discounted the theory that even those who won't be back with the Bulls have nothing for which to play.

"It's foolish if guys are thinking that," he said. "Common sense would dictate that the better year you have, even if you're going to go somewhere else, the more [money] you're going to get."

Toronto Raptors swingman Michael Curry calmly deflected recent attacks against him yesterday, saying they are nothing more than a byproduct of losing.

"When you're losing, there's going to be finger pointing and there's going to be a lot of negative things brought out," Curry said. "And that's the reality of it. That's what happens when you lose."

Last week, in a report published in The Globe and Mail that detailed a division that exists in the Raptors' locker room, Curry was painted as a player many of the other players on the team no longer trusted, viewed as little more than a stool pigeon for Kevin O'Neill, the team's embattled coach.

"I hold my credibility up against anybody," Curry said when questioned about the allegation.

Stanford All-America forward Josh Childress will apply for the NBA draft but will retain the option to return for his senior season, according to multiple sources.

Under NCAA rules, players are allowed to work out for NBA teams and gauge their draft value. As long as they don't hire an agent, they have until June 17 - a week before the draft - to withdraw.

He joined his teammates in Mexico last week for spring break, then met with Coach Mike Montgomery on Tuesday morning.

When asked for an update, Montgomery said: "You'll have to ask Josh."

Indiana University's top-rated incoming basketball recruiting class has carried an asterisk because of speculation Josh Smith might enter June's NBA draft.

And while Smith still hasn't said he is NBA-bound, his actions Monday night spoke loudly.

By participating in the dunk contest at the McDonald's All-American game in Oklahoma City Smith officially lost his freshman year of college eligibility.

According to NCAA rules, "a student-athlete shall be denied the first year of intercollegiate athletics competition, if following completion of high school eligibility, and prior to the student-athlete's high school graduation, he participates in more than two all-star basketball contests."

Participation in this case, according to the NCAA, includes the slam-dunk contest. Smith also competed in all-star events in Chicago and Knoxville, Tenn.

"This was his decision to make," IU coach Mike Davis said. "It's disappointing, but we had guys that we had lined up just in case. We had a backup plan. We're not in the situation where we were a couple of years ago where we were kind of out there stuck.

"But this is his decision and I support the boy."

As bad as things have been for the Mavericks, their attention has not yet turned to next season.

That's why one recent online report that Antawn Jamison would relocate this summer to his hometown Charlotte Bobcats caught the Mavericks by surprise. That it has virtually no chance of happening made it surprising, too.

The most surprised person might have been Bobcats general manager and coach Bernie Bickerstaff. He cannot talk about players until May 5, but Bickerstaff outlined his strategy for building the Bobcats' roster, and it certainly didn't sound as if the Mavericks' sixth man is in Charlotte's future.

The gossip was that the Bobcats would part with their first draft pick, No. 4 overall, and acquire Jamison, who has four more seasons on his contract at a total salary of more than $57 million.

"Our first pick is very valuable to us," Bickerstaff said. "It would have to be something monumental for us to consider" moving it.

Bickerstaff also said the team is not interested in a long-term, max- imum salary such as Jamison's.

"The veterans that we want are guys with one or two years left [on their contracts] who are good in the locker room and can help our young kids," Bickerstaff said. "Our kids are going to be the show."

Though Jamison, 27, was born and raised in Charlotte and remains heavily involved in the community, his immediate future figures to be in Dallas. "I knew that wasn't going to happen," he said. "That's too much salary [$12.584 million next year] for them."

Rod Thorn got to see only the final half-hour or so of the session. But it was enough to brighten his week.
Yesterday, Jason Kidd and Kenyon Martin both returned to practice for the first time in nearly two weeks. Martin could play tonight against Eddie Jordan's Wizards depending on how the tendinitis in his left knee feels this morning.

Kidd, nursing a bone bruise in his left knee, is further away from playing. However, the fact that he has been cleared to practice a week and a half after he went on the injured list - when there was speculation of possible surgery - is encouraging for a team that has lost seven of its last nine games.

"(Martin) and Jason looked good. That's a step in the right direction," Thorn, the Nets CEO, said as he knocked on the wall for good luck. "(Kidd) seemed to be moving pretty freely."

"I'm not going to rush back," said Martin, who has watched the Nets go 1-5 without their two All-Stars. "It can only make it worse if I do that. I made one move and it bothered me. I had to stop real quick. Besides that it felt good.

"It will take more than two or three games to get into a groove. If it is not (tonight), then it will be soon. So we will see."

Mark Blount's eyesight was fine yesterday, but his mood was still a tad on edge. The Celtics center took Jason Collins' left hand to his face late in Monday night's victory in New Jersey, and he's still ticked that it was judged to be nothing more than a common foul.

``He hit me in my face, man,'' Blount said, defending his right to be angry. ``I mean, what if I couldn't come in here this morning? What if I can't play tomorrow? What is that going to do for me?

``It's my right eye. What can I do? They're not hiring any blind reporters are they?''

Upon further review, Blount thinks there was room to call a flagrant foul.

``They had a chance to clear it up and they didn't clear it up,'' he said. ``That's why I was upset. The refs were standing right there. The ball was going out of my hands and they were towards my face. The ball was nowhere near my face.''

The Grizzlies breathed a sigh of relief Tuesday when the club learned that Pau Gasol's foot injury isn't serious.

The 7-foot Spaniard underwent imaging tests that confirmed he suffers from a mild arch strain in his right foot. Team physicians at the Campbell Clinic re-evaluated Gasol, who is listed as day-to-day.

Gasol had converted 8 of 9 shots and tallied 16 points when he left the game with 3:35 left in the second quarter. He attempted to run and jump on the foot before the start of the third quarter, but decided he couldn't continue. Gasol watched the game's conclusion from the bench in street clothes and walked out of Philips Arena with a slight limp.

"I didn't want to force it," he said Monday night. "I want to be healthy and finish the season strong. I tried to run and jump and it was hurting."

The Orlando Magic signed forward Britton Johnsen for the remainder of the season, General Manager John Weisbrod said today.

Johnsen has played in 13 games with four starts this season for the Magic, averaging 2.4 points, 1.6 rebounds in 13.8 minutes a game. He originally was signed as a free agent on Sept. 11 and was waived on Nov. 16.

Johnsen later signed a 10-day contract on Mar. 10, then a second 10-day contract on Mar. 20.