Is Grant Hill's ankle worse than what the Orlando Magic are leading on?

Hill's comeback Monday was again put on hold after the pain in his left ankle did not subside sufficiently, John Denton of Florida Today is reporting.  When Hill will return the team does not know.

And the news does not stop there, with the Magic expecting that Hill will play drastically reduced minutes if and when he does hit the floor again.

Hill has missed 10 games this season with "tendonitis in his surgically repaired ankle", which does not include portions of four other games that he has missed.  He last stepped onto an NBA court on December 27 against Memphis.

"Unfortunately when you have three surgeries and a lot of trauma to that joint you're going to have your moments, and I've had some good ones and some bad ones," Hill said. "We just want to be careful with it. As I've said from Day 1, the attitude is to be overly cautious. In lieu of everything that's happened, that's probably the smart thing to do."

After playing in just 18 games the last two season's combined since crossing from the Detroit Pistons for $93 million over seven years, the Orlando Magic understandibly must be frustrated.  While the team maintains that the ankle is structurally sound, doubts are starting to appear in the heads of some key Magic folk.

"Even if he denies it, he would have to be thinking that too," coach Doc Rivers said of Hill and the possibility that the pain may be something that is with him for the rest of his career.. "That's the fear for all of us. At some point it comes to, 'How long is this fun?' A year from now if this continues, this isn't going to be fun."

At the start of the season the Magic saw progress, limiting Hill's minutes then slowly increasing them as he got re-aquainted with his body functionaility.  But now, two months into the season, the Magic again face the prospect of limiting the gifted small forward's time on the court.

"I do believe we should try and limit his time and use him as a 20-, 25-minute player," Rivers said. "Even if it stayed at that for the rest of the year, if doing that kept him out on the floor, we'd take it. It's not what we want, but we'd take it.

"But I don't know if Grant can accept it. But I think he can if he knows it keeps him healthy, on the floor and he's helping this team. It'd be very difficult for a guy like Grant Hill to be limited to 25 minutes even if he knew it was good for him. He's just too darn competitive."