Orlando Magic forward Grant Hill told the Orlando Sentinel today that he will retire if surgery is his "last option" to correct his sports hernia injury.

A seven-time NBA All-Star, Hill likely will not play the rest of the season and faces a possible career-ending dilemma this summer:

He said he has been advised by his doctor to have another sports hernia operation.

Asked if he would retire, Hill told the Sentinel, "Yeah, if that's the last option. I can't have another surgery, so. . . ."

Grant Hill has spoken with Magic President Bob Vander Weide about the club possibly offering him a buyout and a place in the organization, perhaps in ownership.

As we've said here before, Hill isn't asking for a golden parachute. He wants to play.

Could Grant Hill return to Detroit for the 2007-2008 season?

"I've thought about that," admitted Hill, who expected to be in Chicago, albeit not playing, Tuesday when the Orlando Magic meets the Bulls. "I'm human. I want to win. When you play, you want to be a part of a winning team. But my hope is to try to turn that around and have that here (with Orlando). Ideally, that would be the highlight of my career."

"San Antonio, Detroit, Miami maybe," Hill mused in a conversation last week, "teams that realistically have a chance to win it all. Everyone is not that fortunate. Maybe the opportunity will be there in two years, maybe not. But I don't look down the road after all this. Every day is a challenge and an obstacle and hurdle to get through. Tomorrow is not promised. If I don't get back to a championship, I'm not going to feel my life is incomplete. It's fun, but I don't need that for validation."

The Orlando Magic have exercised their option to extend the contracts of forward-center Dwight Howard and guard Jameer Nelson through the 2007-08 season, Assistant General Manager Otis Smith announced today.  Per team policy, terms of the deals are not disclosed.

?Dwight and Jameer are having terrific sophomore seasons and they are only going to get better,? said Smith.  ?They are certainly key parts of our foundation, as we continue to make this organization one in which fans can be proud of, both on and off the court.  We look forward to watching Dwight?s and Jameer?s development in a Magic uniform for many years to come.?

Magic forward Dwight Howard came off the bench to score 23 points and grab seven rebounds in only 23 minutes, according to a report by the Associated Press.

It was Howard's first non-start of his young NBA career, punished after showing up late for shootaround.

"Traffic is traffic. But it's no excuse for me to be late," Howard said. "I'm a leader for the team and I can't be late for shootaround or anything. So it's my fault."

Meanwhile, in his first game at Orlando since being traded last month, former Magic guard Steve Francis had just two points in 11 minutes, all in the first quarter.

Orlando fans greeted Francis with a smattering of boos and applause during starting lineup announcements, but saw little of him later.

"I can't do anything about it. I am not in a position to demand minutes. I did not go through training camp with this team," Francis said.

The Orlando Magic have re-signed forward-center Tony Battie, Assistant General Manager Otis Smith announced today.  Per team policy, terms of the deal are not disclosed.

?Tony (Battie) is a true professional who provides veteran leadership to our young ballclub,? said Smith.  ?His tremendous character is important both on the court and in the locker room.  In addition, the structure of this deal allows us to maintain significant salary cap flexibility going forward.?

Battie (6?11?, 240, 2/11/76) has played and started in all 67 games for Orlando this season, averaging 8.1 ppg. and 5.9 rpg. in 26.9 minpg.  He has led (or tied) the team in rebounding nine times, including a season-best 13 boards on three occasions, the last on Mar. 10 vs. Cleveland.  Battie has scored in double figures 23 times and recorded six double-doubles.  

Battie has also blocked at least one shot in 35 outings, including a season-best five blocks on Jan. 20 @ Charlotte.  All five rejections came during the third quarter, tying the franchise record for most blocked shots in a quarter.  He is currently tied for 36th in the NBA in blocked shots.

Selected in the first round (fifth overall) of the 1997 NBA Draft by Denver, Battie has played in 599 regular season games during his NBA career with Denver, Boston, Cleveland and Orlando, averaging 6.7 ppg., 5.7 rpg. and 1.00 blkpg. in 22.8 minpg.  He has also appeared in 26 career playoff outings, averaging 6.3 ppg., 6.5 rpg. and 1.69 blkpg. in 25.2 minpg.

Magic Coach Brian Hill didn't mince words when asked about center Tony Battie, who is in the final year of his contract.

"I want Tony on our basketball team," Hill said. "I think this organization and Tony, we're all on the same page with this. Hopefully, we won't have any problems with that."

Former Piston Darko Milicic is finally displaying why Detroit spent the second overall pick of the 2003 pick on him, taking the 7-foot Serbian over the likes of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade.

John Denton of Florida Today writes that Milicic has blossomed into somewhat of a defensive force for the Magic. He's blocked 10 shots the past two games and 29 in his 12 games in Orlando ? more than he ever did in any of his 2? seasons in Detroit.

Milicic is already pushing for Magic coach Brian Hill to give him more minutes and especially more touches on the offensive end of the floor.

"I know what I can do. Coach understands that I'm new here and he's learning what I can do," Milicic said. "Like (Wednesday night), I play 25 minutes and have three shots. Three shots in 25 minutes is strange to me. (Hill) said he understands and he's going to give me more balls in the post. He's still trying to learn about me and how best to use me."

Magic forward Grant Hill said he hasn't thought about hanging it up for the remainder of the season.

"I haven't thought about that. I don't want to go there," said Hill, who is undergoing his third rehab stint for complications from his Oct. 31 sports hernia surgery.

"With the ankle, I tried to go a couple of weeks longer than I should have. But with this, it's very vague."

Hill has missed 24 games since returning Dec. 14 from his surgery.

He said he'll take about a week off and then see how the area responds. "It's clear there's something going on," he said.

Ultimately, he'll be spending his offseason dealing with another injury.

"So whether I play all the games left, play a couple of them or none of them, it's something that's going to have to be addressed in the offseason," he said. "It's just a matter of figuring out how to address it now."

Coach Brian Hill said he figured it would be Grant's last try this season considering "how many games we have left," but Grant wouldn't say he was done with the next false start.

"I don't know, I really don't. Before [with the ankle] it was pretty much when it was done, it was done," he said. "There was no gray area, no cloudy area. But there's still a lot of gray areas with this."

According to Florida Today, Magic coach Brian Hill is talking about shutting injured forward Grant Hill down for the season.  

Hill missed his 41st game of the season Saturday night after re-aggravating the sports hernia injury that has bothered him since October.

"We'll probably wait until (today) to see how he feels and then discuss what might be the best road to take the rest of the season," Brian Hill said. "It's obvious that something is wrong with him continuing to experience pain."